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MATAGORDA ISLAND - The Navy and Coast Guard are looking for the crew of Navy T-34 Training Aircraft Wednesday night.
The FAA control tower lost radar contact with the T-34 Trainer around 3:20 p.m. Its position was 12 miles due east of Rockport, over the Gulf of Mexico. At 4 p.m., the Coast Guard was advised that there was a missing plane in the Gulf.
The search area is along the coast of Matagorda Island, which runs from Rockport to the opening of the Matagorda Bay at Port O'Connor.
Authorities believe wind and currents could be pushing the wreckage, if any, in that direction.
"It has a very heavy nose and not much floatation, so it will go down very quickly in most seas," Jerry Richardson, who trains pilots at the Municipal Airport in Rockport, said.
In addition, Richardson has been flying helicopters and planes for years.
Richardson said, "We had a bird coming back across the bay and the Coast Guard was searching and it ended up being in the same frequency as the Coast Guard, so they asked us to assist them and we said certainly."
So, he sent out one of his pilots that was already en route.
"We just kind of flew out there and went from one platform to another and kind of did zig zags back in. A couple of Navy jets out there and looking around not for an aircraft unfortunately, but bits and pieces floating around in the water," Pilot Camron Leuschel said.
Leuschel didn't find anything, but knows he talked to the T-34 pilot many times during the day.
At the municipal airport the T-34 Aircraft frequents the runway daily and the pilots there talk with the Navy personnel on a regular basis, whether it be on the ground or in the air.
"I don't know who it was today, if he was even at this airport, but I know we talked to him frequently throughout the day," Leuschel said.
The two men in the aircraft haven't been found yet and the search will still go on.
"It's hard to live with that. I know it's going to suck that it's the reality of the business and industry, so it's hard," Leuschel said
MATAGORDA ISLAND - The Navy and Coast Guard are looking for the crew of Navy T-34 Training Aircraft Wednesday night.
The FAA control tower lost radar contact with the T-34 Trainer around 3:20 p.m. Its position was 12 miles due east of Rockport, over the Gulf of Mexico. At 4 p.m., the Coast Guard was advised that there was a missing plane in the Gulf.
The search area is along the coast of Matagorda Island, which runs from Rockport to the opening of the Matagorda Bay at Port O'Connor.
Authorities believe wind and currents could be pushing the wreckage, if any, in that direction.
"It has a very heavy nose and not much floatation, so it will go down very quickly in most seas," Jerry Richardson, who trains pilots at the Municipal Airport in Rockport, said.
In addition, Richardson has been flying helicopters and planes for years.
Richardson said, "We had a bird coming back across the bay and the Coast Guard was searching and it ended up being in the same frequency as the Coast Guard, so they asked us to assist them and we said certainly."
So, he sent out one of his pilots that was already en route.
"We just kind of flew out there and went from one platform to another and kind of did zig zags back in. A couple of Navy jets out there and looking around not for an aircraft unfortunately, but bits and pieces floating around in the water," Pilot Camron Leuschel said.
Leuschel didn't find anything, but knows he talked to the T-34 pilot many times during the day.
At the municipal airport the T-34 Aircraft frequents the runway daily and the pilots there talk with the Navy personnel on a regular basis, whether it be on the ground or in the air.
"I don't know who it was today, if he was even at this airport, but I know we talked to him frequently throughout the day," Leuschel said.
The two men in the aircraft haven't been found yet and the search will still go on.
"It's hard to live with that. I know it's going to suck that it's the reality of the business and industry, so it's hard," Leuschel said
