Condition Of Pilot From Cda Improves

The pilot of a small plane that crashed on a grassy knoll outside Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was improving.

Gregory Rainey, 41, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was listed in serious condition Sunday at Harborview Medical Center. He had been in critical condition.

Killed in Friday night’s crash was the lone passenger, Theodore Harris Jr., 39, also of Coeur d’Alene. Authorities initially reported his hometown as Post Falls, Idaho.

The twin-engine Beechcraft Baron was on a flight from Coeur d’Alene to Boeing Field when the pilot radioed that he was having engine problems The plane was cleared to land at Boeing Field, but instead continued south.

Witnesses said the plane narrowly missed a hotel and office tower before crashing in a grassy knoll just outside the Sea-Tac Airport.

No one on the ground was injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. It could take one to two months to determine the cause of the accident, NTSB investigator Debra Eckrote said.