Brothers Found Alive After Washington Plane Crash

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It was a happy ending Monday morning for two men, a 78-year-old pilot and his 79-year-old brother, who walked away from a plane crash near Lake Cavanaugh, according to Skagit County Undersheriff Chad Clark.

The Cessna 172 was reported missing when the plane — traveling from Concrete Municipal Airport to Kyles Airport, a private airstrip southwest of Monroe — didn't show up when expected Sunday night, Clark said.

The Washington State Department of Transportation used an airplane to search for the missing Cessna on Sunday evening and picked up a locator beacon signal near Lake Cavanaugh, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. Wildfire smoke in the area prevented a low-level night search, the Sheriff's Office said.



On Monday morning, WSDOT Aviation Emergency Services found the plane's crash site in a heavily wooded area near Lake Cavanaugh.

The brothers had walked nearly a mile along a creek bed to a clearing in the dark after the crash. When they heard the rescue helicopter over them, they called "mayday" on a handheld radio they'd taken from the plane, according to Courtney O'Keefe with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

They were hoisted out of the woods, exhausted, but not seriously injured, O'Keefe said.