U.S. Coast Guard crews have suspended the search for a small airplane that crashed hundreds of miles off the coast of Florida on May 24.
“Suspending a search is one of the most difficult decisions we ever have to make, and we never make it lightly,” Christopher Eddy, search and rescue mission coordinator at Coast Guard 7th District, said in a statement. “We always want the best case scenario to happen and will continue to monitor for new information that could aid responders.”
The plane went down to the Atlantic Ocean on Friday between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., about 310 miles east of Fort Lauderdale in Florida and over 221 miles northeast of the Bahamas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The crash occurred shortly after the aircraft was approached by U.S. military jets.
.@USCG suspended its search for a downed aircraft Saturday approximately 221 miles northeast of Marsh Harbor, Bahamas. More here: https://t.co/Kjk3zVPD9L pic.twitter.com/jCxW6zKQu3
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) May 26, 2019
The plane, a twin-engine Cessna Citation V, flew out of St. Louis Regional Airport in Missouri at 1:35 p.m. local time, destined for Fort Lauderdale.
Track log from FlightAware shows that the plane slowed sharply—by about 180 mph—at around 5:46 p.m.
Officials say the pilot was the only person on board. The cause of the crash and the pilot’s name are not immediately clear.
Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport air traffic controllers lost communication with the Cessna business jet, prompting the Florida Air National Guard to dispatch two F-15 fighter jets. The aircrafts, which intercepted the plane, saw it crash into the ocean.
The Coast Guard conducted aerial searches in an area of 642 square nautical miles (850 sq miles).
Mark R. Lazane, a spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told The New York Times that the fighter jets approached the plane, but the plane “rapidly” descended and crashed. Lazane says the fighter jets did not fire upon the Cessna.
Small Plane Crashes
At least three plane accidents occurred on or following day of the Citation jet crash, two of which were fatal.
Two people were killed in Utah’s Wayne County after a plane crash on May 24. According to the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, the single-engine aircraft disappeared in an explosion and plumes of smoke. The photos released by the officials show a large wooded area covered with debris.
A pilot died during a single-engine plane crash on St. Simons Island in Georgia on May 25. The plane caught fire while making its way from Savannah to the McKinnon St. Simons Airport, that morning. No individuals or homes were impacted, according to officials.
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In East Haddam, Connecticut, another small plane crashed at Goodspeed Airport on May 25 during takeoff. It stopped about 95 feet from the runway and went downward, damaging the bottom of the plane. The pilot and passenger in the two-seater plane were not injured, according to The Associated Press.
In 2017, 347 people were killed in 209 general-aviation accidents, according to the FAA.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
