Breaking News is first at 4.
Crews are searching right now for a plane that crashed
in the San Juan Islands.
According to the Sheriff's Office there,
the plane went down near Orcas Island,
with first reports of the crash coming in around 11:40
this morning.
We actually have video of the incident obtained by Fox
13 News.
As you can see, it appears that the plane was
in a loop but came down too steep,
causing the pilot to crash into the water.
Reports out of Orcas Island indicate that some debris already
actually washing up a shore there.
Sheriff's Office says the plane was an older model and
was flying north to South when it went down in
the water and sank.
Now, using flight data and FAA records,
we've confirmed the plane that crashed was a vintage Air
Force T34.
Mentor actually belonged to Apollo 8 astronaut and Island County
resident William Bill Anders.
Multiple social media posts and messages from friends and family
since the accident say Anders was at the controls when
that plane went down.
There is no other information on whether anyone else was
on board,
and Anders is. San Juan County resident is famous for
being part of the 1968 Apollo 8 crew that circled
the moon for the first time.
During that trip, he took the iconic Earthrise photo that's
known around the world,
his love of flight continuing after his retirement when he
founded her local Heritage Flight Museum in 1996.
It was initially located in Bellingham but later moved to
the Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington.
Of course, we will continue to track this story as
we learn more information,
kind of updates here on air as well as online
at FOX 13 seattle.com.