On Wednesday afternoon, family members of a certified flight instructor saw his plane fly over their home in Alsea and heard what might have been a crash soon after.
This afternoon, when they hadn't heard from the pilot, they made a grisly discovery: the crashed Piper Cherokee 140 single-engine plane in the remote wooded Salmonberry area 8 miles west of Alsea. The remains of the pilot and a male passenger were inside.
Searchers and deputies from Benton County along with a helicopter from the Oregon Air National Guard joined the family's search of the area, said Sheriff Diana L. Simpson. But details about the victims and the cause of the crash remained elusive.
"It's still really sketchy at this point," Simpson said. The victims' names were withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The state medical examiner's office in Portland will do autopsies Friday. Also, the Federal Aviation Administration will start an investigation of the crash.
-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson:
kimberlywilson@news.oregonian.com