OLYMPIA, Wash. — One person is dead, and another was rescued after a plane crashed in Washington state's Gifford Pinchot National Forest Friday evening.
At 3:05 p.m., the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Air Search and Rescue was notified that an aircraft did not arrive in Hood River, Ore. The plane had broken away from a three-plane flying formation, and the pilots of the other two planes reported it missing an hour and a half after landing.
The plane, a 1943 Stearman Kaydet aircraft, had been enroute to a fly-in event in Hood River, set to take place during the weekend. The aircraft departed from the Enumclaw area and stopped at the South Lewis County airport, then continued towards the Columbia River Gorge at noon, WSDOT said.
The plane's flight path ended about 12 miles northwest of Stevenson, just before 1 p.m., cell phone and radar forensics discovered. The U.S. Coast Guard out of Astoria had a rescue helicopter and crew, as well as Skamania County ground search-and-rescue teams, located the crash site, where they were able to hear a man's voice.
The plane and its occupants were discovered at 6:20 p.m. in the forest's trees, down a steep ravine.
A 45-year-old man, Jed Paul Kelly, 45, was found dead inside the wrecked plane, while a survivor, 72-year-old Christopher M. Paulson, was transported to the Portland International Airport (PDX). Paulson had been the pilot, according to the Skamania County Sheriff's Office.
Both men were from Eatonville, Wash.
The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for the investigation.
