Missing Aircraft Located in Mason County

News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: (360)427-9670 Ext 313 or (360)275-4467 Ext 313
Authority:  Chief Deputy B.Dean Byrd

Case Number:  10-05666

Shelton, WA - Monday, May 3, 2010

The wreckage of a small plane along with the remains of its pilot, were located early Friday evening in a heavily wooded area about 2 miles southwest of Potlatch State Park in Mason County.  The Mason County Sheriff’s Office was called at about 5 PM on Friday by two brush pickers who had come across the aircraft while harvesting floral evergreens.

The dead pilot was identified as 51 year old, Gordon Last of Everett.  Last was reported missing by his girlfriend on or about October 10, 2009, when he failed to return from a flight, from Harvey Field in Snohomish County.  The original search was centered in and around Snohomish County and failed to turn up any sign of Last.  The investigation later disclosed that witnesses saw Last and the aircraft in Westport and later watched them depart in a northwesterly direction.  The search then expanded to a 1,900 square mile area in Thurston, Grays Harbor, Mason, Thurston and Lewis Counties.  Again the aircraft was not located.

The aircraft, a restored 1946 Taylorcraft, was not equipped with an emergency locater transmitter and Last did not file any flight plan.

Sheriff’s Deputies and Mason County Coroner, along with personnel from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration made their way to the crash scene early Saturday to conduct the investigation.  The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.  An investigator commented “The aircraft was found under a canopy of trees which would have made it nearly impossible to see from the air.”