UPDATE: While an aircraft was found 10 miles downriver of Russian Mission, and verified as being the missing airplane, there is no sign of the missing pilot. The aircraft was towed to the bank of the river.

Steven’s next of kin were notified of the discovery.

ORIGINAL: Alaska State Troopers received a report at 6:29 pm on Monday evening, advising them that there was a missing aircraft that was traveling between Russian Mission and Bethel.

According to the report by troopers, 31-year-old Kyle Stevens, of Russian Mission was flying from Russian Mission to Bethel with another pilot flying with him in a separate aircraft.

The pilot flying the same flight path as Stevens reported the aircraft, a maroon Cessna 205 with a white stripe, bearing the tail number N8347Z, called in the report, when that plane failed to land in Bethel. The pilot reported that they had encountered heavy fog in the Russian Hills area.

Although Civil Patrol aircraft in Bethel flew the area, the searchers failed to locate the aircraft. An Air Guard HH-60 launched from JBER, but was forced to turn back because of adverse weather conditions.

CAP and the USCG will continue their search of the area today.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  aircraft, bethel, cessna, civil air patrol, Coast Guard, kyle stevens, missing, rescue, russian mission, search