Search on for Silverdale man missing in small airplane

Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a Silverdale man believed to have gone for a flight in a private airplane and then disappeared.

The last reported sighting of Richard E. Nims, 73, was at Apex Airpark west of Silverdale Nov. 17, Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Friday.

Nims was first reported missing to deputies Tuesday evening by his niece who lives in Port Orchard. He was seen last week by the manager of the small airpark off Willamette Meridian Road NW.

No plan was filed for a flight, a requirement of private planes, and Nims had left his Kenworth semi tractor at the airpark. He has a private pilot license and was a former military and commercial pilot.

Nims left the airstrip in a 2004 Citabria Scout, a $100,000 aircraft, Wilson said, adding that the plane is registered to a holding company in Montana. The tail number for the aircraft is N273MA.

The Federal Aviation Administration is involved with the search and has posted notices at area airfields.

Criminal activity is not suspected, Wilson said. He added that places Nims may have gone have been checked and yielded no new information.

“We have no idea where he went,” Wilson said.

The investigation for the missing aircraft is being conducted by the aviation division of the state Department of Transportation.

Nims’ residence is in the 13800 block of Olympic View Road NW.

Anyone with information related to this case can contact the Washington State Department of Transportation, Aviation Division tip line at (360) 410-0461 or e-mail missingaircraft@wsdot.wa.gov.