Coast Guard Ends Search for Missing Plane, Pilot
The Coast Guard has called off a search for a missing single-engine plane and its pilot, believed to have crashed off Dana Point Saturday afternoon.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Daniel Sutyak said his agency and the Civil Air Patrol suspended their search for Robert O. Gibbel, 61, of Hemet and his Beechcraft 36 at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Gibbel’s plane disappeared off air traffic control radar Saturday between 1 and 2 p.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration believes Gibbel’s plane went down somewhere around Dana Point.
Sutyak said a search by a Coast Guard Falcon jet, a patrol boat and two helicopters was called off because there is little chance Gibbel could have survived two days in ocean waters.
Gibbel had left San Luis Obispo in his plane on Saturday, headed for San Diego.
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