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Military, volunteers continue search for missing aircraft

Weather clouds over as crews enter fifth day of looking for small two-seater airplane.
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A Cormorant helicopter prepares to take off from the Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook on Monday as the Canadian military continues to search for a missing aircraft.

Military and civilian volunteers are continuing to look for a small airplane that was reported missing last week after taking off from an airport near Cranbrook en route to Kamloops.

The 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron, based out of Comox on Vancouver Island, had two fixed-wing Buffalo aircraft and two Comorant helicopters searching the region throughout the Okanagan and the Kootenays on Tuesday.

Cloud cover has interfered with the search efforts, however, depending on weather conditions, crews can do preliminary searches and return to the area later when conditions improve.

Nine civilian aircraft with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) are also assisting with the effort to locate the two-seater Piper Warrior aircraft, which was being piloted by Alex Simons and Sydney Robillard.

The two flew into Cranbrook from Lethbridge on Thursday, before refuelling and taking off under stormy weather conditions to Kamloops. The plane did not report into Kamloops, which touched off a search effort that began on Friday.

The operation is being headquartered out of the Kelowna Flying Club as search and rescue aircraft scour 150 nautical miles of the projected flightpath of the Piper Warrior between Cranbrook and Kamloops.



Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
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