The Civil Air Patrol has ended an unsuccessful search for a small airplane in the Sierra Nevada that has been missing since it took off from near Lake Tahoe a week ago.
Maj. Shane Terpstra, the incident commander for the Sierra County sheriff’s office, said in a statement Monday they were extremely disappointed they haven’t been able to find the plane that was carrying a couple from Truckee to Petaluma, California.
Authorities say Mark Richard and his wife, Brenda, departed from the Truckee Tahoe Airport on April 17.
Multiple law enforcement agencies searched an area 18 miles northwest of Truckee for six days before calling off the search Sunday night.
Civil Air Patrol aircrews from California and Nevada say the rugged mountain terrain is heavily-wooded and covered with snow.