Coast Guard stops search for plane
CLEVELAND — The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday suspended its search for an airplane that was carrying a beverage distribution company executive and five other people when it vanished over Lake Erie shortly after takeoff from the city’s lakeshore airport.
The Coast Guard said it would step aside to allow Cleveland to begin recovery efforts of the plane and the victims.
“The decision to suspend a search is never easy,” Capt. Michael Mullen, chief of response for the Coast Guard 9th District, said in a statement. “I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who lost loved ones during this tragedy.”
John T. Fleming, the chief executive of a Columbus-based beverage distribution company, was piloting the plane, which was carrying his wife, Sue Fleming, their teenage sons, Jack and Andrew, a neighbor and the neighbor’s daughter. The plane suddenly lost altitude about two miles out during a scheduled return trip to Columbus, according to a flight-tracking service.
The Coast Guard began searching the air after being notified soon after the plane’s disappearance. High waves and blustery conditions prevented smaller Coast Guard boats from the Cleveland area from deploying Thursday night. A 140-foot Coast Guard cutter joined a search that covered 128 square miles on Friday.
Mullen had held out the possibility of finding survivors Friday morning despite water temperatures that hovered around 40 degrees. But when asked if the twin-engine jet could land safely on Lake Erie, he said, “Aircraft are not designed to float, especially in 12-foot seas.”
Tracking service FlightAware logged only three location pings for the plane after takeoff from Burke Lakefront Airport, and the last one indicated rapid altitude loss. Authorities have said there were no distress signals from the pilot.
Authorities detected “faint hints” but no strong pulse from an emergency locating transmitter, Mullen said. No signs of debris were found.
