Search efforts end for missing Tacoma pilot after two week disappearance
Washington State Department of Transportation Search and Rescue have called off their search for a missing Tacoma pilot who disappeared during a flight Mar. 6, according to the Washington Department of Transportation.
A Cessna piloted by Rod Collen was reported missing after he left Tacoma Narrows Airport in Gig Harbor at about 5:35 p.m. A few minutes later, the plane’s location tracking system was turned off or malfunctioned, according to WSDOT.
Collen was the only person inside the plane.
With the help of a forensics team, authorities used radar to determine that the aircraft made a “very rapid” descent to the ground.
Crews searched for 13 days and found no traces of the aircraft or the pilot.
Investigators believed the plane was somewhere in a 36-square-mile section of forest land near the coast, between Lake Quinault and Queets.
Quinault Tribal Nation emergency management crews flew a UAS drone over the search area but could not find anything of interest.
With no leads or developments, no additional aerial searches are planned, according to WSDOT.
The missing plane, a 2006 Cessna T182 Turbo Skylane, is white with blue stripes and has a tail number of N24289.
Anyone who thinks they saw or heard the plane on Mar. 6 or spotted anything in the area is asked to call the State Emergency Operations Center at 800-258-5990 with details.
