THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601090236
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THE BLIZZARD OF '96
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Coast Guard rescuers were forced by weather Monday to suspend a search for an Indiana man whose single-engine plane apparently went down over the Chesapeake Bay and disappeared Saturday night.
It was uncertain what caused the plane to go down or if its disappearance was weather-related.
A Coast Guard spokesman said the man, who was not identified, was last heard from at 7:40 p.m. Saturday.
The last radar contact showed the plane flying in a northwest direction about 10 miles north of Cape Charles.
A Coast Guard utility boat and an 82-foot cutter from Little Creek, as well as a rescue helicopter from Elizabeth City, began looking for the plane about 9:30 p.m., the spokesman said.
The search continued Sunday. However, snow on Monday forced a suspension of rescue operations.
The Coast Guard was focusing its search on an area from Cape Charles to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, north to the Rappahannock River.
KEYWORDS: WINTER STORM BLIZZARD MISSING PERSON ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB