HOOD RIVER, Ore. -- Federal officials are investigating a single-engine plane crash on a steep hillside in the Columbia River Gorge, killing five Alabama family members and an Oregon relative.
Searchers recovered the victims' bodies Tuesday from the wreckage, which Hood River County Sheriff Robert Lynch said was 'scattered over the hillside,' in the Viento Ridge area at about 2,000 feet elevation.
He said investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board headed for the crash scene Tuesday.
Two helicopters from the 304th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in Portland joined 20 ground searchers in looking for the Piper Cherokee, reported missing Monday afternoon on a flight from Klamath Falls to Troutdale.
The victims were identified as Terry Hawkins, 28; his wife, Carol, 27; their sons, Michael, 6; Joshua 4, and Jeff, 2, all of Birmingham, Ala., and the Hawkins' niece, Nancy Fulton, 17, of Sandy, Ore.
