|
|
| News Release |
Date: Contact: |
| Coast Guard continues search for 2 in Gulf - Citrus County Sheriff's Office to use sonar to search underwater **Update** |
|
YANKEETOWN, Fla. - The Coast Guard is continuing the search for two people in the water after a private aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, 20-miles southwest of Yankeetown. Darien Peckham, a 35-year-old man, hometown unknown, and Zachary Schlitt, a 28-year-old man, of West Palm Beach, Fla., were in a single-engine, fixed-wing Beechcraft airplane (tail number N945T) en-route from Tallahassee, Fla., to Vandenberg Airport in Tampa, Fla., when air-traffic controllers in Jacksonville, Fla., reported to the Coast Guard that the plane dropped off the radar and crashed into the Gulf. Coast Guard rescue crews located two small debris fields within the search area Monday, but have been unsuccessful in locating the aircraft or the men. The rescue crews found a seat and a flight bag that contained aviation head phones among the debris. The Coast Guard Cutter Marlin, an 87-foot cutter homeported in Ft. Myers, Fla., will remain onscene and its crewmembers will continue searching throughout the day. Members from Citrus County Sheriff's Office will also be using side-scanning sonar equipment to search underwater in the search area. Weather conditions are one- to two-foot seas and eight- to 10-knot winds. The water temperature is 72 degrees. |
|
### Saving Lives and Guarding the Coast Since 1790. The United States Coast Guard -- Proud History. Powerful Future. |
printer friendly