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Missing Aztec in south fl? N #?
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User546
The Ultimate Show Stopper
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Looks like the Coast Guard has officially called off the search:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/06/22/m1a_slcrash_0622.html
Coast Guard suspending search for plane that vanished from radar
By Sofia Santana, Don Jordan
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The Coast Guard on Tuesday suspended its search for three members of Vero Beach's pioneering Helseth family who have been missing since Monday morning, when their twin-engine plane headed to Fort Pierce likely crashed off the coast of St. Lucie County.
Coast Guard aircraft and watercraft, two commercial boats and some good Samaritans searched nearly 4,000 square miles of choppy water for 24 hours but were unable to find Joseph and Paulette Helseth; their son Scott Sheline; or the family's miniature collie, named Brandy, who also was on the Piper Aztec plane.
Search effort
A group of pilots planS to launch another search for Joseph and Paulette Helseth and their son Scott Sheline this morning. They are looking for more pilots to join them in scanning the ocean off of St. Lucie County.
Family and friends also ask boaters throughout the Treasure Coast traveling to and from the Bahamas in the coming days to scan the waters for any signs of the missing trio and the red-and-white, twin-engine plane.
There was no sign of the small aircraft, which is red with a white stripe extending across the wings.
Several pilots who are friends of the Helseths plan to launch a search this morning and are looking for volunteers to help them find the trio or the plane.
"It's possible they got out of the plane and are on a raft and just weren't spotted," Christopher Helseth, 35, said of his parents and brother.
The names of those on board were released by Coast Guard officials Tuesday morning at the same time they announced that they had exhausted the search. Joseph Helseth, 60, and Paulette Helseth, 56, live in Vero Beach. Sheline, 30, is Paulette Helseth's son from a previous marriage and lives in Tampa.
The trio, part of one of the first families to settle in Vero Beach in the late 1800s, were returning from a weekend trip to Treasure Cay, Bahamas, their favorite getaway spot, and planned to land at St. Lucie County International Airport.
Joseph Helseth, manning his Piper Aztec, told Federal Aviation Administration traffic controllers in Miami that he was headed to Fort Pierce and was going to fly low to avoid rough weather associated with a band of treacherous storms off St. Lucie County's coast, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergman said.
That was the last the FAA heard of Helseth, and air traffic controllers saw the plane drop 2,000 feet before it disappeared from radar screens for good in an area roughly 25 miles east of Port St. Lucie. Helseth did not send out a Mayday call, and traffic controllers did not hear any screams for help through the radio or receive any signals that the pilot or plane was in trouble. The plane just vanished.
Coping with a situation that seems to grow more tragic and puzzling by the hour, many members of the large Helseth clan have gathered in Vero Beach to grieve, but they also have reserved some energy to hope and pray for a miracle.
Three of their kin might never come home, and the family is trying to figure out what to do next — whether in a situation like this it's appropriate to hold a memorial service, funerals or wait.
"We're still trying to come to terms with this," said Tom Ashley, Joseph Helseth's brother-in-law. He added that it's the family's slim hope that "maybe the phone will ring and someone will say, 'Hey, we've got one or two or all three of them.' "
Paulette's Helseth's brother, Randy Swanson, said from his home in Warsaw, Ind., that his family is assuming the worst but hoping for a miracle.
"We're here in Indiana, and just to know there is nothing we can do — it's a surreal feeling of emptiness and tragedy," Swanson said.
His sister grew up in Warsaw and moved to Vero Beach after marrying Joseph Helseth in 1982. The two have been boating, flying and traveling ever since, said Swanson, who on occasion flew with Joseph Helseth and described him as an able pilot. Relatives said Helseth has had a pilot's license for about six years.
"Whether he's flying his plane or driving his boat, Joe knows what he's doing," Swanson said. "This must have been something that must have caught him unaware."
Joseph and Paulette Helseth have a boat docked at Treasure Cay, Bahamas, and have flown there for the past few weekends to go boating, Swanson said.
"They've always loved boating and flying and sailing, and they were doing what they loved to do," he said.
The couple also works together at Helseth Machine & Marine Service in Vero Beach. Their business on Old Dixie Highway has been a mainstay for more than four decades and was founded by Joseph Helseth's father.
The family's presence in the city remains strong, and Joseph and Paulette Helseth have a wide circle of friends.
Pat Cannon has known Joseph Helseth for more than 25 years and he often does welding work for her restaurant, C J Cannon's, in Vero Beach.
The restaurant is a hangout for many local pilots, and the Helseths often stop in for lunch or dinner, said Cannon, adding that the restaurant has been buzzing with news of the plane's disappearance.
"I'm sick about the whole thing," she said. "They're such wonderful people."
The same was echoed by the Helseth's neighbors in the serene neighborhood off Southwest Fifth Street, where the Helseths live in a pale mauve house on the edge of a cul-de-sac. Their weekend newspapers are stacked neatly on a plastic chair outside the garage, and Joseph Helseth's green Jeep Cherokee sits in the driveway.
The house is still and empty, and the rest of the Helseth family describes a similar haunting feeling that comes with beginning to accept that their loved ones are lost at sea, possibly for good, even though none of them is ready to mouth the words yet.
"As more time goes by, the reality begins to sink in," Ashley said. "The ocean's a big place."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/06/22/m1a_slcrash_0622.html
Coast Guard suspending search for plane that vanished from radar
By Sofia Santana, Don Jordan
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
The Coast Guard on Tuesday suspended its search for three members of Vero Beach's pioneering Helseth family who have been missing since Monday morning, when their twin-engine plane headed to Fort Pierce likely crashed off the coast of St. Lucie County.
Coast Guard aircraft and watercraft, two commercial boats and some good Samaritans searched nearly 4,000 square miles of choppy water for 24 hours but were unable to find Joseph and Paulette Helseth; their son Scott Sheline; or the family's miniature collie, named Brandy, who also was on the Piper Aztec plane.
Search effort
A group of pilots planS to launch another search for Joseph and Paulette Helseth and their son Scott Sheline this morning. They are looking for more pilots to join them in scanning the ocean off of St. Lucie County.
Family and friends also ask boaters throughout the Treasure Coast traveling to and from the Bahamas in the coming days to scan the waters for any signs of the missing trio and the red-and-white, twin-engine plane.
There was no sign of the small aircraft, which is red with a white stripe extending across the wings.
Several pilots who are friends of the Helseths plan to launch a search this morning and are looking for volunteers to help them find the trio or the plane.
"It's possible they got out of the plane and are on a raft and just weren't spotted," Christopher Helseth, 35, said of his parents and brother.
The names of those on board were released by Coast Guard officials Tuesday morning at the same time they announced that they had exhausted the search. Joseph Helseth, 60, and Paulette Helseth, 56, live in Vero Beach. Sheline, 30, is Paulette Helseth's son from a previous marriage and lives in Tampa.
The trio, part of one of the first families to settle in Vero Beach in the late 1800s, were returning from a weekend trip to Treasure Cay, Bahamas, their favorite getaway spot, and planned to land at St. Lucie County International Airport.
Joseph Helseth, manning his Piper Aztec, told Federal Aviation Administration traffic controllers in Miami that he was headed to Fort Pierce and was going to fly low to avoid rough weather associated with a band of treacherous storms off St. Lucie County's coast, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergman said.
That was the last the FAA heard of Helseth, and air traffic controllers saw the plane drop 2,000 feet before it disappeared from radar screens for good in an area roughly 25 miles east of Port St. Lucie. Helseth did not send out a Mayday call, and traffic controllers did not hear any screams for help through the radio or receive any signals that the pilot or plane was in trouble. The plane just vanished.
Coping with a situation that seems to grow more tragic and puzzling by the hour, many members of the large Helseth clan have gathered in Vero Beach to grieve, but they also have reserved some energy to hope and pray for a miracle.
Three of their kin might never come home, and the family is trying to figure out what to do next — whether in a situation like this it's appropriate to hold a memorial service, funerals or wait.
"We're still trying to come to terms with this," said Tom Ashley, Joseph Helseth's brother-in-law. He added that it's the family's slim hope that "maybe the phone will ring and someone will say, 'Hey, we've got one or two or all three of them.' "
Paulette's Helseth's brother, Randy Swanson, said from his home in Warsaw, Ind., that his family is assuming the worst but hoping for a miracle.
"We're here in Indiana, and just to know there is nothing we can do — it's a surreal feeling of emptiness and tragedy," Swanson said.
His sister grew up in Warsaw and moved to Vero Beach after marrying Joseph Helseth in 1982. The two have been boating, flying and traveling ever since, said Swanson, who on occasion flew with Joseph Helseth and described him as an able pilot. Relatives said Helseth has had a pilot's license for about six years.
"Whether he's flying his plane or driving his boat, Joe knows what he's doing," Swanson said. "This must have been something that must have caught him unaware."
Joseph and Paulette Helseth have a boat docked at Treasure Cay, Bahamas, and have flown there for the past few weekends to go boating, Swanson said.
"They've always loved boating and flying and sailing, and they were doing what they loved to do," he said.
The couple also works together at Helseth Machine & Marine Service in Vero Beach. Their business on Old Dixie Highway has been a mainstay for more than four decades and was founded by Joseph Helseth's father.
The family's presence in the city remains strong, and Joseph and Paulette Helseth have a wide circle of friends.
Pat Cannon has known Joseph Helseth for more than 25 years and he often does welding work for her restaurant, C J Cannon's, in Vero Beach.
The restaurant is a hangout for many local pilots, and the Helseths often stop in for lunch or dinner, said Cannon, adding that the restaurant has been buzzing with news of the plane's disappearance.
"I'm sick about the whole thing," she said. "They're such wonderful people."
The same was echoed by the Helseth's neighbors in the serene neighborhood off Southwest Fifth Street, where the Helseths live in a pale mauve house on the edge of a cul-de-sac. Their weekend newspapers are stacked neatly on a plastic chair outside the garage, and Joseph Helseth's green Jeep Cherokee sits in the driveway.
The house is still and empty, and the rest of the Helseth family describes a similar haunting feeling that comes with beginning to accept that their loved ones are lost at sea, possibly for good, even though none of them is ready to mouth the words yet.
"As more time goes by, the reality begins to sink in," Ashley said. "The ocean's a big place."
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family!
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