12/3/2013
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Search for missing aircraft in Valley County suspended overnight
Contact: Valley County Information Center: 208-382-7319
CASCADE - Search and rescue operations have once again been suspended for the evening due to lack of daylight and subsequent safety concerns for responders. Officials were able to narrow the search area for the aircraft today, focusing in on an area to the south of the Johnson Creek airstrip, near Yellow Pine, Idaho. An emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal has been detected but is very weak and a specific location for the aircraft is still unable to be determined.
Favorable weather today aided search efforts, with ground personnel being assisted by two fixed-wing aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol and two helicopters from the Idaho National Guard. Searchers are hopeful that weather conditions in the coming days will allow for continued air and land search effort. Search efforts are complicated due to communication challenges faced by the searchers in the remote, mountainous terrain.
Family members of those on the missing aircraft have authorized release of the names of those individuals believed to be on the plane. Those individuals include the pilot of the aircraft, Dale Smith, along with son Daniel Smith and his wife Sheree Smith, and daughter Amber Smith with her fiancé Jonathon Norton.
Approximately 40 search and rescue personnel will continue their efforts tomorrow, and they include representatives of Valley County Sheriff’s Office, the Idaho Transportation Department, Civil Air Patrol, Idaho Army National Guard, United State Forest Service, Idaho Fish and Game, the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security as well as other volunteers and members of the family. Three more fixed-wing aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol are expected to assist as well.