MIAMI – Coast Guard crews suspended their search for two men at 11 a.m. Sunday after receiving a report of a downed aircraft approximately 10 miles northeast of Plana Cays, Bahamas, Thursday.
Missing are Travis Compton and Bancroft Nyack. The two men departed Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday in a Piper PA-27 twin-engine aircraft and were reportedly en route to Grenada.
Watchstanders at the Seventh Coast Guard District Command Center in Miami received a call from an FAA controller at approximately 11:30 a.m. Thursday reporting loss of radar and radio contact with the Piper PA-27. A civilian aircraft pilot transiting the area around the same time contacted the FAA and reported hearing an aircraft’s emergency distress call.
The Coast Guard covered more than 7,400 square miles while searching for the two men and their aircraft.
Assisting with the search were:
- HC-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla.
- HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Coast Guard Air Station Miami
- MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater deployed to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, in support of Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos
- Coast Guard Cutter Confidence crew, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
