Two Nevadans killed in plane crash in lake

Monday, June 8, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

The pilot was identified as Blanton H. Owen of Reno, Nev., the plane's registered owner, Kettle Falls District Ranger Bruce Edmonston said. The passenger carried no identification, but was believed to be from Sparks, Nev., he said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the cause of the crash.

Divers attached cables to the 1974 four-seat aircraft that crashed Saturday and sank in 90 feet of water. The fuselage and a wing were retrieved by a barge crane Monday afternoon, Edmonston said.

Divers found the wreckage, with the bodies inside, several hours after witnesses saw the plane go down Saturday.

The plane had taken off from an airport in nearby Colville and crashed near Rickey Point outside this northeastern Washington town, about 90 miles northwest of Spokane, the dispatcher said.

Lake Roosevelt is the 110-mile-long Columbia River reservoir behind the Grand Coulee Dam.

The airplane went down about five miles south of where another small passenger plane crashed into the reservoir Dec. 1, 1997, killing all three aboard.