US Fish and Wildlife plane crash in Oregon forest kills 2 men doing migratory bird count

Fish and Wildlife plane crash in Oregon kills 2

CORVALLIS, Ore. — A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee and a contractor were killed when their small plane crashed in an Oregon forest.

Authorities identified the pilot as 52-year-old Vernon Ray Bentley, a Fish and Wildlife Service employee from Blodgett. His passenger was 59-year-old David Sherwood Pitkin of Bandon, a former employee who was working as a contractor for the agency.

Benton County sheriff’s deputies say they found the wreckage of the Cessna on Monday morning after it failed to arrive in Corvallis as scheduled on Sunday afternoon.

A radio signal from the plane’s locator beacon allowed searchers to narrow the crash site to an area near Philomath.

The federal agency says the two men were involved in the annual midwinter count of migratory birds.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — The pilot of a small plane registered in Idaho and a passenger were killed in a crash in western Oregon.

Benton County sheriff’s deputies say they found the wreckage of the plane Monday morning after it failed to arrive in Corvallis as scheduled on Sunday afternoon.

Names of the victims were being withheld until their families were notified.

Deputies say the single-engine Cessna was registered to the U.S. Department of the Interior in Boise, Idaho.

It was located with a signal from a radio beacon aboard the plane.