The wreckage of a Grand Canyon sightseeing plane was spotted shortly after dawn Wednesday on a mountain, and it was feared the five people on board died.
Don Donohue Jr., a spokesman for Las Vegas Airlines, said rescue crews had not yet reached the site, but there was no indication that the pilot or four passengers on the twin-engine Piper Navajo Chieftain survived the crash.The plane disappeared from radar at about 4 p.m. Tuesday; bad weather and mountainous terrain hampered the search through the evening.
Mount Wilson, where the plane crashed, is a 5,445-foot peak about 40 miles east of Las Vegas.
The wreckage was spotted by the pilot of a Lake Mead Air sightseeing plane who was helping in the search, Donohue said. Like the crashed plane, the Lake Mead Air plane normally flies the popular route between Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
Helicopters from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas and the National Park Service were dispatched to the scene shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday, and ground crews were trying to reach the site.