Rescue crews are searching for a small plane presumed to have crashed in a remote and rugged area near Estacada earlier this week.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said aircraft controllers notified it just after 6 a.m. Monday that a Cessna 150 may have crashed in the Mount Hood National Forest. The plane had left Salem that morning and the pilot had planned to stop in Troutdale before flying on to Idaho and then Utah.
On board the plane were a father and son: 44-year-old Jared Scott Sabin and 19-year-old Gavyn Scott Sabin. Both are from Salem. Police did not say which one was flying the plane.
The sheriff’s office said the pilot reported bad weather and that ice was forming on the plane. The pilot said he was going to change course. Aircraft controllers lost contact with the plane a few minutes later.
Fearing the worst, controllers contacted the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
Search and rescue crews deployed Tuesday to the Fish Creek Basin, one of the most hazardous and difficult-to-reach areas in Clackamas County — made all the more so by the recent wildfires.
Due to the rugged terrain, land, potential rock slides and a 7,000-foot climb, crews were unable to reach the area where the plane is believed to have gone down.
On Wednesday, crews called in the 304th Pararescue Squadron with the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command. A U.S. Navy helicopter out of Whidbey Island, Wash., is to fly the pararescue crew to the search area and drop them into the wilderness in an attempt to find the crash site.
The sheriff’s office said crews have not yet located any wreckage despite using drone and aircraft flyovers.
