Small plane crashes trying to see elk near Rattlesnake Mountain at Hanford

A small plane crashed on the Hanford nuclear reservation around noon Sunday when it flew too low trying to look at the site’s elk herd.

The two people on the single-prop plane were not hurt, said the Benton County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.

The pilot was David Lake, 48, of Yakima, and the passenger was Leon Hudon, 87 of Wapato.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was a single-engine Rans S6ES Coyote II — a two-seat, high-wing monoplane.

Lake and Hudon told officials they were checking out the elk in the area, got too low and a gust of wind caught the plane, causing it to veer into the ground at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain.

One of the wheels came off when it hit the ground and then the nose hit the ground, according to the sheriff’s office.

The plane was heavily damaged, said deputies.

The Federal Aviation Administration and Hanford Patrol were notified, with FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board investigating. The sheriff’s office also was gathering information with the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.

“From those involved it does appear to be an accident at this time and does not appear to be impairment related,” the sheriff’s office said Sunday.

The land at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain where the plane crashed is owned by the Department of Energy as part of the original security zone around the plutonium-production area of the 580-square-mile nuclear reservation. But it is managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife as part of the Hanford Reach National Monument.

That part of the monument, the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve, is closed to the public.

Hanford elk herd

The beginnings of the elk herd at Hanford — which has numbered near 1,100 in recent years — is usually traced to the winter of 1972-73.

A bad storm drove them out of the mountains early, according to information from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The size of the herd grew slowly at first, and then more rapidly in the mid-1980s. The animals not only survived in the desert landscape, but thrived because there are few predators.

They are protected from hunting if they stay on the Hanford nuclear reservation and the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve of the national monument.

Their limited predators include coyotes, which might take a few very young elk, and the rare cougar that passes through.

The 1,100 estimate of the Rattlesnake Hills elk group is based on surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This story was originally published July 12, 2020 at 6:18 PM.