Seven bodies found in Cascades plane wreckage

Searchers late tonight found seven bodies among the wreckage of a plane that was carrying skydivers from the Snohomish area. The search for three others aboard was continuing.

The aircraft was reported missing on a flight from Star, Idaho, to Shelton, Mason County, Sunday night.

There were nine skydivers and pilot on board the aircraft; the Yakima County Sheriff's Office sent a news release about 10 p.m. that said search and rescue crews were "arranging for the removal of the occupants of the plane." Officials said the search for the three people still missing would continue in the morning.

The smell of fuel led searchers to the wreckage about 7:40 p.m. tonight, the sheriff's office said. Officials used the serial number to confirm it was the skydivers' plane.

The 10 aboard were returning from a skydiving event near Boise and were scheduled to Sanderson Field Sunday night, according to an employee from Skydive Kapowsin, which owns the plane.

Elaine Harvey, co-owner of Skydive Snohomish, confirmed that nine of the 10 aboard were either employees of her business or else local, licensed skydivers who considered Snohomish their "home drop zone." Skydive Snohomish operates a training school and offers skydiving flights at Harvey Field.

Jessie Farrington, who owns Kapowsin Air Sports Ltd. in Shelton, said that she rented the plane to the pilot and nine skydivers Friday night for the weekend event near Boise. She said they were supposed to be back by 7:30 p.m. Sunday, but when she and her husband didn't hear from them by 10:30 p.m. they called authorities.

She said the team made a quick jump in Shelton Friday then headed to Idaho.

Farrington described the pilot as experienced in flying skydiving trips.

The plane is a single-engine Cessna 208 Caravan. Officials said it disappeared from radar Sunday night near the Rimrock Lake area, about 45 miles west of Yakima.

Monday dragged painfully for those waiting for news; some skydivers gathered for support at a group member's Snohomish-area home.

"It's agonizing," said Kandace Harvey, president of Harvey Field, earlier today. "We're hoping and praying for a miracle. They're our friends, they're our family. And we all need to know they're OK."

Ryan Shipley was among the skydivers who dropped by Harvey Field looking for news about the crash, which he assumed involved some of his friends.

"It's a tight-knit community," said Shipley, a Lake Stevens man who learned his sport last year at Skydive Snohomish. "Skydiving is a language not a lot of people speak. If you find someone who speaks that language, it's an instant bond."

Yakima County Search and Rescue officials said a hunter reported hearing a small plane with engine trouble about 8 p.m. and heard what might have been a crash southwest of Rimrock Lake.

Washington State Department of Transportation officials said there have been no emergency distress signals from the plane, but radar tracking confirmed it disappeared in about the same area that the hunter reported hearing a crash.

A ground search began Sunday night, and an air search began at first light in the Rimrock area.

Overnight temperatures in the White Pass area ranged from the upper 20s to near freezing Sunday night, said meteorologist Allen Kam of the National Weather Service in Seattle. At about 7 p.m. Sunday, wind gusts reached 45 knots and humidity contributed to cloudy conditions, he said.

A cold front could bring more rain to the area tonight and tomorrow, he said.

In December 2006 the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada recommended that Cessna 208 Caravans not fly in anything more than light icing conditions. The board's recommendation was included in a report on an Oct. 6, 2005, crash that killed a pilot near Winnepeg.

Relatives of the pilot are seeking $25 million (U.S.) in punitive damages from Cessna Aircraft Co., alleging fraud, product liability, negligence and breach of warranty.

Since 1990, 20 crashes of the plane worldwide have been linked to icing. Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration in the U.S. now require Cessna 208 pilots to fly out of moderate and severe icing conditions when encountered in flight.

In January 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) drew up a set of recommendations that included the suggestion that the Cessna 208 be grounded in moderate or worse icing conditions.

On Aug. 21, 1983, nine skydivers and two pilots were killed in the crash of a Lockheed L-18 Learstar, operated by Landry Aviation Inc., near Silvana in Snohomish County. Fifteen skydivers successfully parachuted from the plane before it crashed in a field.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the crash was the pilot's failure to assure proper load distribution during the jumper exit procedure.

The plane had taken off from the Arlington Airport.

Portions of this report were provided by the Yakima Herald-Republic.