WA WA - Ed Jeffko, 72, Tonasket, 23 July 2012 - Missing pilot and plane

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Pilot of missing plane identified as former Tonasket councilman
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2012/jul/25/pilot-of-missing-plane-identified-as-former/
EAST WENATCHEE — After more than two days of searching, rescuers have yet to locate a missing Glasair single-engine plane, piloted by Ed Jeffko, a former Tonasket city councilman, who took off from the Tonasket airport at 6:30 a.m. Monday and never reached his destination in Sequim.

About 45 people and eight aircraft searched the route from Tonasket to Sequim on Tuesday and today, and by 3:30 p.m. had nothing new to report, said Tom Peterson, the state Department of Transportation’s aviation emergency coordinator. They began the search Monday with four planes flying in the Sequim area and heading toward Tonasket.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Jeffko and his plane are asked to contact the search base at missingaircraft@wsdot.wa.gov or 360-410-7757
 

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This one hits close to home.
PLEASE take a look at this...especially my fellow Washingtonians.
Ed and his wife are very close personal friends to my family. We just want to find him.
 
Hey y'all! I think he went missing July 23, not June 23. If we can get the title fixed we'll probably get more action on this thread.
 
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2012/jul/25/pilot-of-missing-plane-identified-as-former/

“He’s been a big asset to the community for years,” Plumb said. “He’s been a pilot for years and has talked about making trips all over the state. He’s built his own plane, but bought the one he was flying.”

THIS info is INCORRECT.
He was flying the plane he built.
Its a single engine Glasair..white with yellow trim.
Its a small plane built for speed. In Fact,it could make it from Tonasket to Sequim in 45 mins.
 
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018762291_apwamissingplane2ndld.html

Fiman says no emergency signal has been received. Civil Air Patrol planes are searching along the route a pilot would fly between Tonasket and Sequim, over the Cascades.

He didnt file a flight plan this time.
He usually follows the highway...or what pilots like to call.."IFR". ( I Follow Road).
Since there is no FP,and his Emergency Beacon has not been activated,the searchers are looking at ALL paths he could have flown.
 
He seems like an experienced pilot but the fact that he built the plane he was flying is worrisome. Did he fly this plane often? Flying from Wenatchee to Sequim may be 45mins by plane but that is A LOT of area to be searched. I'm from WA but have been out of town this past week. I've heard the weather hasn't been that great (like almost always) but were there any storms going on during the time he was flying that could have caused complications. Do pilots normally file flight plans? (I don't know that much about small aircrafts). If he followed roads and noticed a complication with the plane would he be able to "crash land" maybe on some backboards (I couldn't see anyone crash landing on I-90 because there are many cars). I feel like if his airplane went down over the Puget Sound SOMEONE would have seen it happen and call the coast guard/whoever. If he did encounter some plane issues I would think he could have an emergency signal go off before the plane went down so that there would be a general area to look in.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful - I hope he is found soon and just had to make a crash landing somewhere before the sound and is just waiting to be rescued :( I don't want to think the worst but it seems most likely that his plane went down one way or another whether it was an issue with the airplane or perhaps he had a heart attack or some kind of serious medical thing behind the throttles. If he is an experienced pilot hopefully he knows how to crash land a plane the safest way. I've heard most airplane issues happen immediately after takeoff or before landing. Hope he is found safe soon.
 
I'm concerned that he didn't file a flight plan - I thought that was mandatory?! Does he usually file flight plans? If not, then it is really concerning to me that he didn't this time.

I am so sorry he is missing and your friend, Gatekeeper.

I don't know the area - are there any large bodies of water between the two cities?
 
northxnorthwest said:
He seems like an experienced pilot but the fact that he built the plane he was flying is worrisome. Did he fly this plane often? Flying from Wenatchee to Sequim may be 45mins by plane but that is A LOT of area to be searched.
Click to expand...

I just checked and it's almost 300 miles!! And the terrain looks pretty rough over the cascades national park.
 
amymarie said:
I'm concerned that he didn't file a flight plan - I thought that was mandatory?! Does he usually file flight plans? If not, then it is really concerning to me that he didn't this time.

I am so sorry he is missing and your friend, Gatekeeper.

I don't know the area - are there any large bodies of water between the two cities?
Click to expand...
Yes..if he had filied a flight plan.,,it would really narrow the search. Its not mandatory to file,but most pilots do. Im not sure why he didnt this time.
He flew over some very rough terrain and the air currents that swirl and move above the Cascades can be powerful. We dont know how far he got,or if he reached the Sound or went down in the mountains.
 
northxnorthwest said:
He seems like an experienced pilot but the fact that he built the plane he was flying is worrisome. Did he fly this plane often? Flying from Wenatchee to Sequim may be 45mins by plane but that is A LOT of area to be searched. I'm from WA but have been out of town this past week. I've heard the weather hasn't been that great (like almost always) but were there any storms going on during the time he was flying that could have caused complications. Do pilots normally file flight plans? (I don't know that much about small aircrafts). If he followed roads and noticed a complication with the plane would he be able to "crash land" maybe on some backboards (I couldn't see anyone crash landing on I-90 because there are many cars). I feel like if his airplane went down over the Puget Sound SOMEONE would have seen it happen and call the coast guard/whoever. If he did encounter some plane issues I would think he could have an emergency signal go off before the plane went down so that there would be a general area to look in.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful - I hope he is found soon and just had to make a crash landing somewhere before the sound and is just waiting to be rescued :( I don't want to think the worst but it seems most likely that his plane went down one way or another whether it was an issue with the airplane or perhaps he had a heart attack or some kind of serious medical thing behind the throttles. If he is an experienced pilot hopefully he knows how to crash land a plane the safest way. I've heard most airplane issues happen immediately after takeoff or before landing. Hope he is found safe soon.
Click to expand...

The weather on Monday was fairly good for flying...no major fronts.
Ed had an ELT (emergency locator transmitter) on board. This should have gone off ...but for some reason,theres been no signal sent out from it.
 
northxnorthwest said:
He seems like an experienced pilot but the fact that he built the plane he was flying is worrisome. Did he fly this plane often? Flying from Wenatchee to Sequim may be 45mins by plane but that is A LOT of area to be searched. I'm from WA but have been out of town this past week. I've heard the weather hasn't been that great (like almost always) but were there any storms going on during the time he was flying that could have caused complications. Do pilots normally file flight plans? (I don't know that much about small aircrafts). If he followed roads and noticed a complication with the plane would he be able to "crash land" maybe on some backboards (I couldn't see anyone crash landing on I-90 because there are many cars). I feel like if his airplane went down over the Puget Sound SOMEONE would have seen it happen and call the coast guard/whoever. If he did encounter some plane issues I would think he could have an emergency signal go off before the plane went down so that there would be a general area to look in.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful - I hope he is found soon and just had to make a crash landing somewhere before the sound and is just waiting to be rescued :( I don't want to think the worst but it seems most likely that his plane went down one way or another whether it was an issue with the airplane or perhaps he had a heart attack or some kind of serious medical thing behind the throttles. If he is an experienced pilot hopefully he knows how to crash land a plane the safest way. I've heard most airplane issues happen immediately after takeoff or before landing. Hope he is found safe soon.
Click to expand...

BBM
He knows this plane very well...and flys often.
Im hopeful that since it is such a small plane,he may have been able to set it down somewhere.
 
 

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Im hoping a mod. can help me change his age in the header. Ed is 72 years old...NOT in his 60s.
Spring Chicken!
 
GateKeeper said:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018762291_apwamissingplane2ndld.html

Fiman says no emergency signal has been received. Civil Air Patrol planes are searching along the route a pilot would fly between Tonasket and Sequim, over the Cascades.

He didn't file a flight plan this time.
He usually follows the highway...or what pilots like to call.."IFR". ( I Follow Road).
Since there is no FP,and his Emergency Beacon has not been activated,the searchers are looking at ALL paths he could have flown.
Click to expand...

RBBM


I Think you mean VFR, Visual Flight Rules, With this the weather must be a "ceiling" of at least 1,000 feet above the ground, and the visibility must be at least 3 statute miles.

For VFR flight, it's see and be seen, hop in your aircraft and go. As long as you stay away from "controlled airspace" you can go and do what you want to- as long as you don't violate any regulations of course.

For IFR flight, you must have the permission of ATC, Air Traffic Control, to operate in controlled airspace.

The reason this is important is because if he flew IFR he would have been off the Radar the whole way, and Air Traffic Control would have not picked him up at all.

Also FAA requires that all man made aircraft have emergency equipment on the plane in case of "emergency, such as Parachutes, ejector seats an gps.
Do you know if he had these?
 
Do you know if he had a 121.5 MHz ELTs or a 406 MHz ELT.

Reason I am asking is, 121.5 MHz ELTs activate properly in only 12% of crashes, and provide no identification data.

Also 121.5 MHz ELTs Ground station dependent;
ground stations have an effective
radius of about 1800 nm (2300 km). Both ground station and beacon​
must be in satellite footprint.

Initial position uncertainty result in 500 sq. nm
(800 sq. km) search area on average.​
No GPS capability.
 
CN2Souls said:
RBBM


I Think you mean VFR, Visual Flight Rules, With this the weather must be a "ceiling" of at least 1,000 feet above the ground, and the visibility must be at least 3 statute miles.

For VFR flight, it's see and be seen, hop in your aircraft and go. As long as you stay away from "controlled airspace" you can go and do what you want to- as long as you don't violate any regulations of course.

For IFR flight, you must have the permission of ATC, Air Traffic Control, to operate in controlled airspace.

The reason this is important is because if he flew IFR he would have been off the Radar the whole way, and Air Traffic Control would have not picked him up at all.

Also FAA requires that all man made aircraft have emergency equipment on the plane in case of "emergency, such as Parachutes, ejector seats an gps.
Do you know if he had these?
Click to expand...

Yeah,,the "I Follow Road" thing is sorta a silly joke...:blushing: Airplane Humor.

Youre info is spot on! I appreciate your input...Lord knows we need it.
 
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