CAP searches for downed small plane

By Timothy Pratt

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 10:41 a.m.

The Southern Nevada Civil Air Patrol sent two planes in search of a missing Cessna Centurion this morning.

Radar contact was lost with the plane Sunday morning near Tonopah, authorities said.

The plane, which can hold up to four adults and two children, had only the pilot on board when it disappeared, said Charles McCarty, spokesman for the air patrol. The pilot, whose identity has not been released, was traveling from Tucson to Eugene, Ore.

The Nye County Sheriff's Office began searching for the plane on the ground after losing radar contact Sunday, but weather conditions made the search difficult, McCarty said. Snow was reported in the area at the time the plane disappeared.

The Civil Air Patrol sent two planes from the North Las Vegas Airport in search of the missing Cessna about 6 a.m. today, McCarty said.

One plane is searching the area about 14 miles northwest of Tonopah -- about 200 miles north of Las Vegas. The second plane communicates between the search plane and the ground.

The spokesman said the Cessna's disappearance was the third plane that has gone down this year in Nevada that the CAP has helped search for. There were no fatalities in the first two, he said.

The area where the Cessna disappeared is mountainous. "If he's where we think he is, it's between 7,000 and 9,000 feet and shadows change the look of everything, making it harder to see," McCarty said.