Mount Rainier Plane Crash Kills Two Men

Mount Rainier

plane crash

kills two men

TACOMA

Two Tacoma men were killed in the crash of a small plane Saturday near the summit of Mount Rainier.

One of the victims has been identified by the Pierce County medical examiner's office as Ronald McDonald, 53, pilot and owner of the downed aircraft. The passenger was identified as Randall Bates, 45.

A spokesman in the medical examiner's office said the plane had taken off from the Spanaway Airport, south of Tacoma, sometime after 1 p.m. Saturday. No flight plan had been filed, the spokesman said, and authorities believe the two may have been on an afternoon outing.

The plane, a two-seat Piper 18, crashed into the lower end of a shallow crater near the mountain's summit, above the 14,200-foot level, said Cy Hentges, Mount Rainier National Park spokesman. Investigators believe the crash may have occurred about 6 p.m. Saturday.

Hentges said the Seattle air-traffic-control center picked up the plane's emergency locater transmitter signal late Saturday, and the Lewis County Sheriff's Office and Mount Rainier National Park rangers were notified.

Early yesterday, a Chinook helicopter from Fort Lewis took four park rangers to the crash site. The bodies of the victims were recovered about noon.