12/4/2013
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Search continues Wednesday afternoon for missing plane in Valley County
Contact: Valley County Information Center: 208-382-7319
CASCADE - Aircraft and ground searchers continue to look for the missing aircraft in Valley County Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 4). Teams have expanded their search area based on projections of the possible path of the missing plane. Five planes from the Civil Air Patrol and two Idaho Army National Guard helicopters are being used to grid the entire search area today.
The Civil Air Patrol is using forward-looking infrared radar as an added capability to search efforts. This specialized equipment, brought in from Wyoming, detects ground temperatures and can pick up anomalies, such as sunlight reflecting off metal. The number of agencies and personnel involved in the search has increased daily, with more than 60 individuals working today.
The faint emergency locator transmitter signal thought to be picked up yesterday continues to be searched for, but cannot be verified by other aircraft searching the same area today. The teams are expanding their search, as that signal may be misleading due to the mountainous terrain and the unreliable nature of the signal.
Click here for photos and video of the search: photo 1, video 1, video 2, video 3.
