NEW ORLEANS – The Coast Guard is searching for an aircraft reported overdue, Monday, 40 miles southeast of Venice in the Gulf of Mexico.
Search and rescue assets are:
An HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft and crew from Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala.;
An MH-65C Dolphin helicopter and crew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans;
The 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Cobia and crew.
Watchstanders at the Eighth Coast Guard District command center received a call from the Federal Aviation Administration in Houston that a single-engine Piper PA28 departed from Jack Edwards Airport in Gulf Shores, Ala., shortly after 7 a.m. At approximately 11 a.m., FAA Houston reported that the aircraft descended 600 feet in three minutes and then lost radar contact.
There are currently no signs of a downed aircraft or a debris field in the vicinity of the aircraft’s last known position.
The Coast Guard is searching a 2,500 square-mile area 40 miles east-southeast of Venice.
