Plane Wrecks Yield Remains of 2 Pilots

The wreckage of two small private planes--one missing for more than three years--and the remains of their pilots have been found in mountains near the Owens Valley, authorities said Monday.

A hiker near Hart Lake, 37 miles southeast of Bishop, discovered the skeletal remains of a pilot whose single-engine Cessna 172 disappeared in June, 1987, said Inyo County sheriff’s deputies. The name of the pilot was withheld pending notification of relatives.

Another Cessna 172 and its pilot, Jerry Dell Teel, 48, of San Bernardino, were found by hikers at nearly 12,000 feet in Sequoia National Park, deputies said. Teel’s plane disappeared during a heavy snowstorm in January, and a weeklong search failed to locate the craft.