Wreckage of missing plane found near mountain with pilot dead inside, WA officials say

The wreckage of a missing plane was discovered near a Washington mountain with the pilot dead inside, officials said.

Jerry Riedinger, known as “an aviator of the highest caliber,” was found dead May 20 near Humpback Mountain, the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a news release.

The 69-year-old had disappeared the day before.

He left the Arlington Municipal Airport around 4:30 p.m. in a 2001 Extra Flugzeugbau 300/L as the sole occupant, officials said.

When he never made it to Ephrata, officials said, his wife reported him missing at about 6 p.m.

Although the plane had an emergency locator transmitter, a signal was never sent from it, officials said. Rescuers began searching for Riedinger by air and with ground teams.

During the morning of May 20, officials said a team of 50 rescuers searched by foot as one helicopter scanned the ground below for Riedinger.

“The team is focusing efforts on a concentrated area in the Humpback Mountains west of Snoqualmie Pass, where last known cell phone analytics were recovered,” officials said.

His body was later found in a “heavily forested area” near Humpback Mountain, officials said.

“Jerry was known by everyone as a humble and conscientious aviator,” Jim Bourke, president of the International Aerobatic Club, wrote on Facebook. “He was an inspiration to many in his sport of passion: aerobatics.”

Humpback Mountain is near Interstate 90, and about a 50-mile drive southeast from Seattle.

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