The Whitehorse-based search was scaled back Monday for the Beechwood Bonanza airplane and its occupants, Gary Patigler and his wife Ingrid. (CBC)

Efforts in the Yukon to find an American couple and their small airplane were scaled back Monday, more than two weeks after the aircraft was reported missing.

At one point, upwards of 90 military and volunteer personnel were searching for pilot Gary Patigler and his wife Ingrid, who left in their Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft on June 20 from an airstrip near Anchorage, Alaska.

Although Patigler's flight plan said they would land in Whitehorse three hours later, they never arrived in the Yukon capital.

Both Canadian and U.S. search crews have been scouring around the Yukon-Alaska border since.

Search headquarters moving to B.C.

The Canadian mission's headquarters was based at the Whitehorse airport, but it is now being moved to the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, B.C., military officials said Monday.

"At this point, we've extensively searched a majority of the search area. We've covered a total of 13,000 square miles, which works [out] to approximately 21,000 square kilometres, and we've put in some 400 hours into this search," Lt. Marguerite Dodds-Lepinski told CBC News in Whitehorse.

"We've determined that because we've done as much as we can possibly do at this point in time, from this headquarters, we are standing down the search headquarters."

The Canadian search will continue on a scaled-back basis, with a 10-person crew and a Buffalo aircraft expected to fly daily missions from Whitehorse until further notice.

However, the majority of the search crew has been reassigned, including a Hercules aircraft from 17 Wing in Winnipeg.

Lightning strike forces emergency landing

Some searchers aboard the Hercules had a harrowing experience on Thursday, when the aircraft was struck by lightning, forcing an emergency landing.

"Honestly, I thought we hit a bird. It was just a really loud bang on the front of the plane," pilot Capt. Michael Ledochowski recalled in an interview.

"The guys in the back said they thought somebody was taking a picture."

At the time, Ledochowski and his crew were returning to the Whitehorse airport. The plane was over Grey Mountain, just southeast of the city, when the lightning struck.

"It was definitely interesting," Ledochowski said. "I'd never been hit by lightning before, but you talk about it a lot in pilot training, about the fact that it can happen."

Ledochowski said the lightning pierced the plane's nose cone and travelled halfway up the aircraft's body before it exited from a number of places.

While the damage was fairly significant, the plane landed in Whitehorse safely.

A new nose cone had to be brought up and installed before the crew could return to their base in Winnipeg.

"It's a good story to tell everyone, anyways," he said.

Anyone who may have information related to the missing Beechwood Bonanza airplane is being asked to call their local police or the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at 1-800-567-5111.