Plane crashes into sea 30 miles off Oceanside

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Plane crashes into sea 30 miles off Oceanside

2:00 a.m. March 7, 2009

OCEANSIDE: The Coast Guard located floating debris and an oil slick in the ocean yesterday and was searching for survivors after a small airplane went down 30 miles off Oceanside.

Officials had not been able to identify the aircraft or anyone on board as of last night.

Boaters reported seeing a small civilian plane nose-dive into the water about 10 miles from them and 25 miles east of San Clemente Island about 2 p.m., said Lt. Joshua Nelson of the U.S. Coast Guard station in San Diego.

It took the boaters 20 to 30 minutes to reach the spot, where they found aircraft debris about midway between the island and Oceanside, Nelson said.

Two Coast Guard vessels and private boaters searched for survivors, along with a Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter and a Marine Corps C-130 transport plane, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Amanda Sardone said.

Coast Guard crews found small pieces of aluminum, plastic foam and carpet and a small oil slick consistent with a private plane, Nelson said.

Nelson said Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration officials were calling every airport control tower in Southern California along with flight schools and individual pilots, hoping to identify a missing plane.

Three Coast Guard vessels were to keep searching overnight and be joined at sunrise by a helicopter until there is no chance that anyone in the crash survived, Nelson said.

The Coast Guard initially cited reports that a plane that had taken off from Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa was unaccounted for, but later backed away from that account. –P.R. & G.G.

Source: SignOnSanDiego.com

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Saturday, March 7, 2009