MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. -- Aviation officials investigated whether a plane that slammed into a wall of ice and snow on Mount Rainier belonged to a pilot reported missing Sunday.
Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Cy Hentges said officials did not know whether a Cessna 210 that was reported missing on a flight between Boeing Field in Seattle and Wenatchee is the same one that hit the 14,411-foot peak.
The missing plane was piloted by William E. Staul, 54, of Wenatchee.
Hentges said because of extreme danger of either snow or rock avalanches, rescue workers and officials decided not to put anyone down at the site to recover any victims of the crash.
The plane lodged into Willis Wall at about the 12,600-foot level on the north side of Ranier.
'We don't know anything for sure yet about who is in it,' he said. 'But whoever is in it undoubtedly died. The plane was traveling at least at 150 or 200 miles an hour when it hit. It's been out there for at least 12 hours, and there's no sign of tracks or any sign to indicate anything happened after the crash.'
Hentges said that about 1:30 a.m. Sunday the Park Service received a call from the Civilian Air Patrol, which reported that a plane was missing.
The plane reportedly was on a routine flight pattern between Boeing Field in Seattle to Wenatchee about midnight when the flight controller told the pilot to turn left as he approached the Mount Rainier.
'They didn't turn, then they continued on and (the plane) left the (radar) screen,' Hentges said.
He said an Army Chinook helicopter from Fort Lewis carrying Park rangers as well as three members of the Mountain Rescue Council from Tacoma flew over the site at daybreak Sunday.
'All the people saw was a hole in the snow and a piece of the tail sticking out -- the vertical stabilizer,' Hentges said. 'They couldn't see the rest of the plane.
'They then flew back on down to base camp and discussed the situation. A decision was made not to put anyone on the ground because of the location of the plane,' he said. 'It would be too hazardous to send anybody in there because there is a great avalanche danger. If an avalanche hit there would be no chance of escape.'
He said officials decided they would simply 'keep an eye on the plane,' since it eventually will move -- either by falling or being pushed by an avalanche.