Wreckage Believed to Be Missing Plane

Searchers spotted the wreckage of a small plane on a snow-covered Mono County slope Thursday, and they believe it is the Beechcraft four-seater that has been missing since it left Van Nuys Airport a week ago, authorities said.

But the air searchers saw no sign of the passengers, and a ground team was unable to enter the plane’s cabin at the crash site Thursday.

The missing plane was piloted by Dr. Eric Kim, an anesthesiologist at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, and carried two passengers.

“About 12:30 p.m., (a private helicopter) found what we think is the airplane in the Sierra (Nevada) search area,” Civil Air Patrol Maj. Wyn Selwyn said. “There were some numbers visible on the wreckage.”

The wreckage was found 20 miles south of Mammoth Lakes, at the 9,600-foot level of Wheeler Crest. Sheriff’s dispatcher Sharon Ladd said the debris was scattered over a wide area.

Searchers reached the wreckage on foot, but due to the heavy snow and the plane’s position on the slope, rescuers could not reach the passenger cabin by nightfall and halted the search. They plan to resume the operation this morning, Ladd said.

Kim and his friend, Mauro Wolinski, a Rolling Hills doctor who practiced at St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, left Torrance Airport March 23. The plane landed briefly in Van Nuys at 5 p.m. to pick up loan officer Katheryn Muller of Malibu, Selwyn said.

The plane headed north from Van Nuys despite a growing storm, with the aircraft last picked up on FAA radar three miles southwest of Bishop at 7:48 p.m., Selwyn said. The pilot told the FAA by radio that he would do his own navigating from that point on. The plane was only 35 miles from its destination, Selwyn said.

The trio was reported missing Friday and the search covering 2,400 square miles began Saturday, Selwyn said.