02:28 PM PST on Tuesday, November 25, 2003

By TERESA BELL, kgw.com Staff

SCAPPOOSE, Ore. -- A single-engine plane crashed in a swampy area near the Scappoose Airport Tuesday morning, killing a family of four from Washington state on board, authorities said.

The pilot made a mayday call to the tower at Portland International Airport at 6:50 a.m., said Jay Tappan, Fire Marshal with Columbia River Fire and Rescue. All radio and radar contact with the plane was lost minutes later. The Scappoose Airport is a very small facility and does not have its own tower or communication hub.

The wreckage was scattered across a swamy area near Sauvie Island. (KGW Sky-8 Photo)

The wreckage was spotted a short time later in Scappoose Bay, a swampy area about three miles north of the Scappoose Airport, near Sauvie Island.

Rescuers arrived on the scene after 7 a.m. and found four bodies -- an adult male and female in the front, and two children in the back. Friends said the victims were Phillip Brewer and his wife Sondra, and their two daughters -- all from Everett, Wash.

“We (rescue teams) gathered up all the boats that we could, canoes, kayaks a zodiac… and started a search of the area. The Sheriff’s Office was finally able to get in close, using a canoe,” Tappan said.

“There's wreckage, including parts of the wings, spread about a mile along a swampy area about a half mile east of Highway 30,” KGW Sky-8 helicopter pilot Brian Sonnier said as he flew over the scene Tuesday morning. “It looks like it came apart in flight."

This is a photo of the actual plane that crashed, as shown on a Web site with information from Phil and Sondra Brewer of Everett, Wash., the owners of the plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave the four names on the flight plan's manifest to Columbia County authorities to verify the identities of the deceased.

Sonnier said visibility was poor over Scappoose Tuesday morning, but no other flight problems were reported. The Scappoose Airport is located between Vancouver and St. Helens, Wash.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team of investigators to try and determine the exact cause of the crash.

Deadly crash last month

Just last month, another small plane crashed near the Scappoose Airport, killing everyone on board.

The Cessna 340 crashed on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 18, just before landing.

Investigators look over the wreckage of the Cessna 340 near Scappoose. (KGW File Photo)

Columbia County authorities identified the victims as James Gillespie, 72, and Jessie Gillespie, 73, of the Steilacom, Wash. area. Federal aviation records indicated that James Gillespie, an accomplished pilot registered as a flight instructor, owned the plane.

Witnesses said that as the Cessna was about to land, another plane took off from the same runway. The Cessna’s pilot then decided to go back around to again attempt landing and crashed moments later.

(KING contributed to this report.)