Search efforts end for missing Tacoma pilot after two week disappearance

Washington State Department of Transportation Search and Rescue have called off their search for a missing Tacoma pilot who disappeared during a flight Mar. 6, according to the Washington Department of Transportation .

A Cessna piloted by Rod Collen was reported missing after he left Tacoma Narrows Airport in Gig Harbor at about 5:35 p.m. A few minutes later, the plane’s location tracking system was turned off or malfunctioned, according to WSDOT.

Collen was the only person inside the plane.

With the help of a forensics team, authorities used radar to determine that the aircraft made a “very rapid” descent to the ground.

Crews searched for 13 days and found no traces of the aircraft or the pilot.

Investigators believed the plane was somewhere in a 36-square-mile section of forest land near the coast, between Lake Quinault and Queets.

Quinault Tribal Nation emergency management crews flew a UAS drone over the search area but could not find anything of interest.

With no leads or developments, no additional aerial searches are planned, according to WSDOT.

The missing plane, a 2006 Cessna T182 Turbo Skylane, is white with blue stripes and has a tail number of N24289.

Anyone who thinks they saw or heard the plane on Mar. 6 or spotted anything in the area is asked to call the State Emergency Operations Center at 800-258-5990 with details.