Search for missing pilot suspended

Washington State Department of Transportation

Aviation News Service

March 8, 2004





WSDOT Suspends Search for Missing Aircraft



Bremerton - WSDOT officially suspended the active search for the missing
Cessna 170 aircraft at 6 p.m. on Sunday, a week after the aircraft was first
reported overdue by family members. David Verstrate and Harold Bennett were
on board the single-engine aircraft, which was headed from Diamond Point to
Auburn around 4 p.m. on February 29.



After six days of searching and no new leads to pursue, WSDOT had to call
off the search mission, according to Tom Peterson, WSDOT Search and Rescue
Coordinator. The mission is still considered "open" and will resume if
other credible leads are received.



Oil slicks found in Case Inlet, near Heron Island, along with two witness
reports, make the body of water an area of high interest. Without sonar
capabilities, however, WSDOT is unable to effectively search the inlet,
which is about 140 feet deep. WSDOT is currently trying to obtain a
resource that has the sonar capabilities, according to Peterson.



Washington Air Search and Rescue and Civil Air Patrol volunteers
participated in the search from Bremerton National Airport. Sixty-seven
aircraft took part in the mission, logging over 274 hours of flight time.



Nisha Hanchinamani


--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.