Columbia County Sheriff's Deputies conducting a search and rescue operation this morning located the wreckage of a Cessna aircraft near Goble. Deputies recovered two bodies associated with the crash, which occurred sometime yesterday evening.The Sheriff's Office received notification through Columbia 911 that a cell phone associated with a missing pilot was "pinging" in the area between Deer Island and Goble just before midnight. At 3:38 a.m., deputies located the plane and the bodies of Todd Norrish, 47, Camas, Wash and his 17-year-old student-pilot,Jimmy Kravets, of Vancouver.
The Sheriff's Office notified family members of both occupants of the plane, who had come to the scene in an attempt to locate their missing loved ones.
The scene is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, with the assistance of the Sheriff's Office.
Others assisting with the Search and Rescue effort included Columbia 911 dispatchers, who, the sheriff said, performed admirably in the effort.
"We relied constantly on the coordinates provided by dispatch in locating the downed craft," the sheriff said. "In addition to their handling of media and family inquiries and keeping us abreast of all the assistance and help headed our way."
That help included Columbia River Fire and Rescue personnel, members of the Oregon State Police, the Clark County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Coast Guard.
"As soon as we got the call, we activated our Search and Rescue team and immediately began searching the areas where the pinging of the cell phone indicated we should be looking," Dickerson said. "Clark County sent a marine patrol unit specially equipped for thermal imaging and the Coast Guard was also en route with thermal imaging equipment when we located the downed aircraft."
The Sheriff's Office thanks all those public safety agencies who participated in the operation for helping to bring a relatively swift conclusion to the search effort in Columbia County.
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