Missing air tanker plane fighting Oregon ‘mega-fire’ was found, officials say

Pilot, who was found dead, delivered aid to crews battling Falls fire in eastern Oregon when it went missing Thursday

A single-pilot tanker plane that disappeared in eastern Oregon while fighting the Falls fire has been found, authorities said on Friday. The pilot who was on board the aircraft is dead, officials confirmed.

A Grant county search and rescue team located the aircraft on Friday morning and confirmed the death, said Lisa Clark, a Bureau of Land Management information officer for the Falls fire. The single-engine tanker, a small and nimble plane that looks like a crop duster, was located in steep, forested terrain on Friday morning after the search was suspended at nightfall the day before, Clark said.