Search crews located the wreckage of a missing Idaho-bound plane in a remote Washington valley and found the pilot and passenger dead inside the aircraft. The discovery closed a multi-agency effort that began after the flight lost contact with air traffic control.

ABC News reported that Washington State Department of Transportation search teams found the wreckage around 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 near Aeneas Valley, close to Tonasket. Both occupants were recovered from inside the plane.

The legal and public-safety stakes are straightforward. A cross-border general aviation flight vanished after radio contact failed, a family member reported the aircraft missing, and state search authorities had to locate the crash site, confirm the deaths, and notify the families. No public finding has fixed a cause.

Who was on board and where the flight was headed

The pilot was Nicholas Grachanin, 61. The passenger was Jim Merik. WSDOT said both men were found deceased inside the aircraft.

The plane left Penticton, British Columbia, on Saturday and was bound for Grangeville, Idaho. That route takes aircraft over rugged ground in north-central Washington, including areas near Oroville and Okanogan.

Authorities have not publicly identified the aircraft type, tail number, or registration. Investigators have also not released a public cause for the crash or the loss of radio contact.

How the missing aircraft report started

A Washington State DOT release described the trigger for the search in plain terms. The pilot lost communication with Seattle Center air traffic control. Then a family member stepped in.

The agency stated the next step this way:

"After the pilot lost communication with Seattle Center air traffic control, the pilot's daughter contacted the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office to report the aircraft and occupants missing."

That call moved the matter from an in-flight communication problem into an active missing aircraft case handled by county and state responders. The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office took the report from the pilot's daughter, who has not been publicly named.

Search methods and the ground recovery

WSDOT Aviation Emergency Services led the search work. Crews started with the plane's final known radar locations between Oroville, Washington, and Okanogan, Washington. Those last radar points gave responders a workable search box instead of an open-ended wilderness sweep.

The same WSDOT release said responders also used "cell phone forensics to help identify potential search areas." That tool can narrow field work when radar alone leaves large stretches of terrain unchecked.

On Oct. 11, 2026, WSDOT Aviation Emergency Services volunteers conducted a ground search near Aeneas Valley. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were contacted to assist. Around 4:30 p.m., search teams found the wreckage and the two occupants.

Fatal discoveries often pull local sheriffs, state agencies, and family reports into the same timeline, a pattern also familiar from cases such as a Massachusetts woman wanted after a police officer husband's death. Here, the public record so far centers on location, identification, and notification rather than on any criminal charge.

Official word after the bodies were found

Tom Peterson, the Washington State DOT air search and rescue coordinator and incident commander, spoke for the team after the recovery. He offered condolences first.

"On behalf of the search and rescue team, WSDOT extends our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives."

Peterson also thanked the people who backed the operation. He said the agency was grateful to everyone who gave time, expertise, and resources to the search effort.

WSDOT said the families were notified after the wreckage and occupants were found. That notification is a core duty once a missing aircraft case turns into a confirmed fatal crash.

What authorities have confirmed, and what remains open

Public confirmation covers several hard facts. The flight path ran from Penticton to Grangeville. Contact with Seattle Center air traffic control was lost. The pilot's daughter reported the plane and both men missing to the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office. Searchers used final radar points and cell phone forensics. Volunteers searched near Aeneas Valley on Oct. 11. Wreckage and both occupants were found around 4:30 p.m. Both men were deceased inside the aircraft. Families were notified. Tribal authorities were asked to help.

Authorities have not publicly confirmed the mechanical condition of the aircraft before impact. They have not said what weather, if any, played a role. No public results have been released on cockpit voice, flight data, or a formal cause-of-death ruling beyond the report that both men were found deceased.

Investigators will need to determine why communication failed, how the aircraft left controlled flight, and what sequence put it into the Aeneas Valley terrain. Those questions sit with aviation investigators and medical authorities, not with the search teams that located the wreckage.

Agencies on the response line

Several institutions appear in the public timeline. Seattle Center air traffic control was the last named air-traffic contact. The Okanogan County Sheriff's Office received the missing report. WSDOT and its Aviation Emergency Services unit ran search coordination and the ground effort. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were brought in to assist. Tom Peterson served as incident commander on the air search and rescue side.

No charges, court filings, or enforcement orders appear in the available public account. The posture so far is recovery, identification, family notification, and the start of whatever cause review follows a fatal general aviation crash.

Why the timeline matters to the public

A Saturday flight, a lost radio link, a daughter's missing-person report, and a Sunday afternoon find near Tonasket show how fast a routine trip can become a full search case. Radar endpoints and phone data shaped the search box. Volunteer ground crews closed it.

Rural valleys do not forgive delayed reporting or weak coordination. The sequence described by WSDOT shows local law enforcement intake, state aviation search leadership, and tribal assistance moving on the same problem. That chain is what stands between a lost blip on a scope and a confirmed recovery for two families.

Jim Merik's age and further personal details have not been released publicly. The pilot's daughter remains unnamed in the public statements. Those gaps do not change the confirmed outcome at the wreckage site.

Next procedural steps after a fatal find

Once bodies are recovered from an aircraft wreckage site, the work shifts. Medical authorities document cause and manner of death. Aviation investigators examine the airframe, engine, instruments, and flight path evidence. Search leadership closes the missing-person phase and turns the site over to those follow-on teams.

WSDOT's public message after the find stayed on condolences and thanks. Peterson's statement did not claim a cause. It did not preview a timeline for any technical report. That restraint matches an early post-recovery stage, when facts still have to be tested rather than announced.

For readers who track government performance in life-and-death field work, the measurable pieces are already on the table: intake of the missing report, use of radar and phone data, volunteer ground search, tribal outreach, location of the wreckage, and prompt family notice. The unanswered piece is causation, and no public agency has filled that in yet.

When a plane drops off the radio and ends up in a valley with two men dead inside, the public is entitled to a straight account of who responded, what they found, and what remains unproven. Clear facts, named agencies, and unfinished cause work are the standard. Anything less leaves families and taxpayers guessing while institutions move on.