‘Massive search effort’ for aircraft goes on

Canadian military and civilian search planes continue to scour the mountains in the territory's southwest corner for a missing plane and its two American passengers.

Canadian military and civilian search planes continue to scour the mountains in the territory’s southwest corner for a missing plane and its two American passengers.

On June 20, pilot Gary Patigler, 70, and his 68-year-old wife, Ingrid, departed Wolf Lake, near Anchorage, Alaska.

The Iowa couple was bound for Whitehorse, but when their red and white Beechcraft Bonanza did not arrive, a search on both sides of the border began.

When satellite signals indicated the couple’s cell phone had not crossed into Canadian territory, the search here was called off on June 22, but resumed three days later.

“The cell phone providers were able to determine that the (Patigler’s) cell phone was roaming through a couple of antennas that were on the American side,” Capt. Craig Ellestad, search master with the Canadian Forces, said Thursday.

“That came out to be a little inconclusive so that’s why we have a big massive search effort on both sides. It’s not so much definitive that the cell phone was moving.”

Currently, four planes - two Hercules rotating out of Winnipeg and two Buffalo planes rotating from Comox, B.C. - are taking part in the aerial search, as well as up to seven civilian aircraft. A search of similar magnitude is also continuing on the American side of the border.

Upwards of 70 people - military and civilian - are involved with the Canadian search that begins at daybreak and continues until 11 p.m. each day.

While the Patiglers’ plane is outfitted with a standard emergency transmitter, no signal has been detected, leaving search teams to comb the region and go on leads from possible eyewitnesses.

“We have had some sighting reports and of course, we follow them up and we take them to their full closure. Nothing so far has proved conclusive,” said Ellestad.

“We will continue to investigate it until all leads are closed ... and our search area is complete.”

And that is a massive 21,000-square-kilometre area encompassing some of the country’s most unforgiving terrain.

While the Patiglers’ flight plan was to cross the border southeast of Northway, Alaska and follow a direct line to Whitehorse, searchers are also considering two alternatives: the chance the plane followed the Alaska Highway to its destination after crossing into Canadian airspace, or took a direct route from Wolf Creek, across the Alaska panhandle archipelago and to Whitehorse.

According to searchers, the couple was equipped for camping, with shelter and cooking implements, so if they survived a crash, there is hope they’re alive and waiting to be rescued.

Patigler, who owns a metal plating business in Bettendorf, Iowa, is also an experienced pilot with more than 30 years of flying to his credit.

As for what caused the plane to go missing, that remains a mystery.

“We can’t speculate whether there was anything wrong with the plane; however, I do know that the weather wasn’t pleasant at that time of the day (when the Patligers departed Wolf Creek),” said Lt. Marguerite Dodds-Lepinski from search headquarters at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport.

“It could’ve been inclement weather; we’re considering that. But we’re not confirming anything.”

Anyone with information on the missing plane is asked to contact 867-456-3861.