Search for missing helicopter and its pilot -- destined for Kelowna, enters day four.
Anxiety is increasing as the search continues for a missing helicopter that vanished along a mountainous corridor between Hope and Kelowna.
The search is now entering its third full day, after the helicopter and its pilot were reported missing a few hours after take-off from Langley airport at around 6:30, Friday evening.
After volunteer crews and members of the Canadian Air Force from Comox set up search headquarters at the Kelowna airport on Sunday evening, the search for the missing aircraft continued into the darkness.
"The weather was not cooperating," Lieut. Trevor Reid, a public information officer with 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron, 19 Wing Comox, said early Monday morning.
The cloud ceiling between Kelowna and Hope remained at between two and three thousand feet throughout the night, and frustrated the efforts of a crew aboard a lone Air Force helicopter, which continued to search, he said.
The route to Kelowna is familiar to the pilot, said George Miller, the general manager of Langley Regional Airport
"The guy is pretty experienced, he's done that route many times," Miller said, without disclosing the pilot's name.
Miller said he believed that the pilot left a flight itinerary with his wife before beginning his trip to Lake Country, just north of Kelowna.
Leaving a flight plan with a friend or relative who can alert authorities of problems is standard protocol, Miller added.
"We're anxiously waiting," he said.
"There is an intense effort being made to locate the missing pilot," Capt. David Burneau, searchmaster from 19 Wing Comox, said Sunday.
"Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria transferred control of the search to our team this evening and we are continuing the search with numerous assets tonight."
At about 9:20 p.m. on Friday, the rescue centre in Victoria was advised the aircraft had not arrived at its intended destination.
It's premature to assume the helicopter crashed, Reid said.
"This pilot is missing," he said. "We don't know what happened."
The search for the helicopter is being conducted strictly from the air, he said, explaining that two helicopters and a pair of fixed-wing planes have been combing the area.
Eleven other small aircraft piloted by civilian volunteers are also helping with the search, he said.
A C-130 Hercules military carrier has also been deployed from Manitoba to assist crews, he said.
"It [the Hercules] can stay up in the air for quite awhile," Reid said.
Ground crews have not been sent out because there is no definitive area for them to search.
Electronic searches have turned up no sign of emergency beacons either, Reid said.
Reid asked members of the public who may have seen a helicopter flying near the Coquihalla Highway between Chilliwack and the highway's summit between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday to call 1-250-765-9140.
No details about the pilot are being released by search crews at this point.
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