"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...
[...] The terrain between Sequim and
Auburn is heavily forested, rugged and mountainous, and broken up by
numerous inlets and fjords on Puget Sound. There are also a lot of lakes
in
the region. Some areas are still covered in snow. Still, the area also has
a
lot of people living in it. You would think someone would have seen
something.

While it's true that there are mountains and forests between Sequim and
Auburn, I would expect most pilots flying that route to stay over the
better-populated low-lands. Especially given the hassle of trying to climb
up over the mountains right after taking off from Sequim in a Cessna 170. I
think it's unlikely that in yesterday's weather, assuming the pilot made no
diversion (and in that case, the search is probably hopeless), the route
would have been over the mountains, or over any lakes.

On the other hand, a popular route between the two airports might well be to
fly down Hood Canal, cut over to Tacoma, and then back up the valley to
Auburn.

The wife was shown on the evening news last night saying that her husband
was in the habit of "skimming the water" while flying that route. It
wouldn't surprise me to find out he sunk his airplane, either by accidently
flying too low or by having a sudden engine failure and no where to glide
to. With the wind and the rain today, I think there's a decent chance that
the main problem is no one's been able to see the oil slick on the water
from the crash.

Obviously it's a little early to be making judgments about what actually
happened, but so far it sounds like a pilot who insisted on taking
unnecessary risks had those risks finally catch up with him.

Pete