Search called off for small airplane that went missing in fog and rain over southeast Alaska

2024-12-24 04:28:29 source: category:News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The search has been suspended for a small airplane with three people aboard that went missing over southeast Alaska last weekend.

“The decision to suspend is never easy,” said Lt. Matt Naylor, the search mission coordinator, said in a social media post on X Monday evening.

Pilot Samuel Wright of Haines flew the single-propeller, 1948 Beechcraft Bonanza to Juneau on Saturday and left that afternoon after picking up passengers Hans Munich and Tanya Hutchins, Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Mike Salerno told the Anchorage Daily News.

The plane was headed to Yakutat, about 275 miles (442 kilometers) northwest of Juneau, where Munich and Hutchins live.

However, a friend tracking the plane online said the radar stopped near Mount Crillon in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, about 100 miles west of Juneau. That friend alerted authorities later Saturday that the plane was overdue.

A search that began Saturday included a Coast Guard helicopter, plane and boat crews. On Sunday, a good Samaritan aircraft and a U.S. Air Force plane joined the search.

Weather conditions were generally poor with fog, rain and gusty winds when the plane was last tracked, Salerno said.

More:News

Recommend

Man waives jury trial in killing of Georgia nursing student

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A man on Tuesday waived his right to a jury trial in the killing of a Georgia nur

The Country’s Second-Largest Coal Plant May Get a Three-Year Reprieve From Retirement. Why?

Duke Energy is proposing a three-year extension for the Gibson power plant in southwest Indiana, the

With 'The Woke Agenda,' Calgorithm propels California football into social media spotlight

In a fiery political climate, one word has become both a term used to describe being conscious of is