Officials said the pilot of a twin-engine Piper Cheyenne II PA31 declared an emergency due to smoke in the cockpit around 1 a.m. Friday.
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Two people are dead and two others are missing after a medical plane crash in northern California, NBC News reported Friday.
The plane is part of Cal-Ore Life Flight, a small company of about six planes that transports patients throughout Northern California and Oregon.
“This is one of the saddest moments in our history”, said Cal-Ore Flight in a statement. The plane’s wreckage was found on private timber land in Humboldt County.
The plane departed at 00:29 AM PST from Crescent City Airport for Oakland International Airport with three crew members and a patient on board.
The pilot had reported smoke filling the cockpit before a search started across a densely forested mountain range. “Radar contact with the aircraft was lost about 5 miles northeast of Arcata Airport”, the press release states.
Federal officials on Saturday were set to begin an investigation into the previous morning’s deadly medical transport flight crash east of Crannell, and a preliminary accident report can be expected within seven to 10 business days, according to National Transportation Safety Board public information officer Eric Weiss. Don Wharton, a spokesman for REACH Air Medical Services, which is headquartered in Santa Rosa, said the aircraft carried a patient, pilot, nurse and paramedic.
California Highway Patrol has confirmed that the wreckage is from the missing plane, reported the Lost Coast Outpost.
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