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Subscribe to RSSUpdated at 1:50 p.m. ET: A plane crashed into a mountain in Washington state overnight, killing two men and a woman, authorities said Wednesday.
The single-engine Cessna 172 slammed into a wooded area on Little Si in North Bend, about 30 miles east of Seattle, King County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindi West told The Associated Press.
Susan Chapin of the sheriff's office told breakingnews.com that residents and officers in North Bend reported hearing the sound of a sputtering engine and an explosion that "woke everyone in the town up."
A helicopter crew spotted the wreckage using night-vision goggles. The bodies of three people were found inside the four-seat aircraft.
The identities of the victims were not immediately released.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
Little Si, with an elevation of 1,576 feet, is a companion mountain named after its taller neighbor, 4,167-foot Mount Si.
David Wylie of breakingnews.com and The Associated Press contributred to this story.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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You'd think that being dark, an explosion (which means fire), would mean that it woud be easier to spot, but that's just me.
Ground Search in dark forest on a Mountain Side = Bad
(With all the absolutely worthless crap that MSNBC puts out, you'd think that the space would be so high valued that they couldn't type the whole name of the State...or Maybe the Author couldn't spell it)
Air search - much easier, can see more land at once - good
Mr.PheaNiques-0000001: please learn to use capitalization properly. Also, please refrain from making stupid comments about the authors of online content. It makes you look more ignorant than your mis-capitalized sentences.
Mr PheaNiques has trouble writing sentences. Capitalization is the least of his problems. He follows MSNBC day and night.
there was fog too. bother to read the whole thing? just a thought.
Mr.PheaNiques-0000001
The Whiners have nothing better to do this morning than pick at pettiness.
Hope they don't pick at me. I used spell check, you spelled your name WRONG!
I recall seeing a video of the plane crash last year at the air race in Reno. It made a pretty loud explosion type noise when it hit the ground but there was no fire.
Actually all to common. And an explosion doesn't always mean a fire.
im sure it another truther.
might be a... liar-liar...plane on fire...
Was that the UFO ONE Again, waking us up? You'd say Obama had better things to do at night....
American Eagle Does that post make sense to you? You'd say One Again?
Nope. doesn't make sense to me.
Buzzard would be a better name for your blog.
He's just bashing the person he voted for because he feels it's Obamas fault. But it's really our for electing him. And how did Obama get wrapped into this fray?
Good, old-fashioned ODS. The sufferers are prone to injecting their hysterical confusion into virtually ANY conversation, no matter the subject.
Just do what I do, point and laugh!
Possible plane crash? That's the MSN story line on my home page. But I'm thinking if there is plane spotted on the ground it wasn't a flying saucer!
Anything to talk about except current events. MSN doesn't want to talk about Obama and his destruction of the country.
Maybe they wanted it there, it's only a crash if it landed someplace they didn't intend!
Don't know if North Bend, nearest town to that mountain, has an airport, or how flat the terrain is, or anything else, other than aircraft wreckage has been spotted somewhere on the slopes of that mountain.
Once the local authorities get to it, they will also have tthe FAA involved in determining the facts of this. In the meantime, that would be local news for that area.
That would be the NTSB, the FAA makes the rules, the NTSB investigates the crashes.
Heavy ground fog frewuently prevents anyone from seeing anything, even in the dark. Those of you who live in big cities and think weather is the same everywhere should get outside more -- away from your protective buildings.
Most probability this was a private aircraft and not a commercial aircraft of any sort. These things happen from time to time with general aviation aircraft. Condolences to the families involved.
Most probability this was a private aircraft and not a commercial aircraft of any sort. These things happen from time to time with general aviation aircraft. Condolences to the families involved.
2000 ft mountain! thats PRETTY LOW OF THEM! I think the landfill in R.I. is taller than that! We call it a land fill not a mountain!
It is a small mountain among lots of big ones. All part of a Mountain Range that includes one that is over 14,000 feet high, named Rainier.
Lot's of Garbage in RI apparently.
North Bend is sitting in a hole surrounded by mountain Peaks. It's not very far from Snoqualmie Pass. When the fog sets in it's usually pretty quick. The weather can change extremely fast in that area. I've had to land the helicopter in the hotel parking area for trucks and stay the night once before as the fog moved in around me and I could not return to Boeing Field in Seattle. Hope there is survivors of the crash, if not RIP.
I think the liberal media is behind this incident...
Dummies are Republican.
SCGuardian
Are you telling us that you are Republican? Thought you might be!
Spell check says, you misspelled your name, What a Dummy!
Rest in peace.
Waiting for first light seems pretty irresponsible. They were in a helicopter they should be able to lower someone to the surface with emergency gear which could include tent warming blankets and medicine.
You don't use a helicopter to lower anyone down (50 or less feet from the surface) if you are in a heavy fog bank. You would never see that tree until it was too late. Ex-Rescuer.
SCGuardian--
Agreed. There are 150-foot plus trees up there. Sending someone else in at night to survey the site is an invitation for rescuers to look for two crashes the next day. We have a similar situation in the construction industry. The fatalities in a confined-space incident are usually the original victim, and the first person who goes in to save them without stopping to think why they might have lost consciousness in the first place.
Mt Si is extremely steep on the North Bend side. Add dark, fog and the ever-present cloud cover (North Bend gets twice the rain that Seattle does), as well as the giant trees denver bill 2 mentioned, and there's no way a helicopter could safely drop someone.
I thought that was what night vision binoculars were for to see in the dark. I did not say it would not be difficult but I still question if it would be possible. However your points are noted and appreciated and if it were to be impossible then I stand corrected.
quick search shows that mT Si is at least 4000 feet
There are so many crappy comments on this article, I think it's all sarcasm. A lot of stupid bickering, and nothing worth-while to say. Making light of someone that got killed; you should feel pretty bad.
I have hiked this mountain and it is around 4,400 feet to the very top.
Though you start at around 1000 feet. And for those from outside the area, Mt. Si is the "Twin Peaks" mountain!
Twin Peaks
Old TV show for the youngsters reading.
From the story:
JOregon -- there is a "pile" of rocks at the top of Mt. Si that is called the Haystack. It is about 200 - 300 feet tall. Locals consider the top of the Haystack to be the true top of Mt. Si -- thereby making it around 4,400 feet.
Interesting info HelloD, but the wreck was on the little peak.
Sad. I fly 172s for recreation. Pretty safe little airplane. But I fly over flat Texas so I don't worry about alternates in the event of engine failure. I can land in bubba's cotton field if I had too. But I have never experienced engine failure after 25 years of flying.
These small plane crashes always make me sad. Condolences to their friends and family.
These guys flying at night? Wonder if the pilot had IFR.