Search Crews Recover The Body Of Missing Pilot

UPDATE at 6:45 p.m.—A rescue group recovered the body of 55-year-old pilot Victor Owens Jr. at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.  Owens, of Telford Tenn. was pronounced dead at the scene.

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CLINTWOOD, Va.—Rescue teams from two states are combing a 30-square-mile area of Pine Mountain on the Kentucky-Virginia border this afternoon in search of a 55-year-old pilot who was reporting missing Saturday.

Described as an experienced flyer, the man last made radio contact about 2:45 p.m. Friday, after his single engine Mooney left Elizabethon for a Ashland, Ky.

Search authorities have declined to release the pilot’s name, but said he was officially reporting missing Saturday.

An emergency base team has been set up near this Dickenson County town with the help of the Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office to coordinate the search.

Virginia State Police Sgt. Phil Cheeks said the plane has an electronic locating device on board, but it has not been activated.

Search crews from multiple agencies deployed in the area near Bartlick, just north of the John W. Flannagan Reservoir, which borders the Jefferson National Forest on the Virginia side, about 8 a.m. this morning – after flyovers of the area Saturday night produced few results.

The flyovers are continuing today, but a the Dickenson County Sheriff said it’s going to be really difficult to locate such a small plane in the dense, wooded area because the recently abundant rain has made everything so lush.

Cheeks said the search was centered on the Pine Mountain area because the plane’s last radar signals placed it in the vicinity, and because of witnesses who reported hearing metal grinding noises that might have been related to engine rotor problems.

The search crews include more than 100 people organized into about 15 teams.

In addition to the Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office and the Virginia State Police, participating agencies include the Black Diamond Search and Rescue team, the U.S. Forest Service, several area volunteer fire departments, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Smyth County Search and Rescue squad.