Prince George, B.C. – A cargo flight bound for Prince George from Vancouver this morning remains missing.

The Carson Air Flight 66 left YVR just before 7 this morning.

“Right now the joint Rescue Coordination Centre is currently searching for a white Swearingen SA226,” says Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson Paul Trenholm. “It’s got two people on board, those are pilots, no passengers.”

He says the plane was scheduled to arrive in Prince George at 8 am and notes DND have since initiated a search and rescue protocol.

“The area of interest is 14 km northeast of Vancouver, just south of Cathedral Mountain,” says Trenholm. “We’ve tasked a Cormorant helicopter, and a Buffalo aircraft. An Aurora aircraft has also joined the search.”

Trenholm says it’s premature to assume the plane has crashed.

“We don’t have any information about the condition of this aircraft. We haven’t heard a mayday or located any debris. There’s been no discussion at this point about shutting off this search as long as there’s daylight.”

He says weather conditions have hampered search efforts though.

“We’re looking at low ceilings and high turbulence, I’m not stating that that was a condition here, what I’m saying is that that is a condition that is impacting and hampering our search at this time.”