Plane down

[jetexas]

Yahoo news is reporting a plane with 9 people on board made a distress call and probably went down in lake Erie.

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) - A single-engine plane carrying nine people crashed Saturday in snowy weather shortly after taking off from an island in Lake Erie, the U.S. Coast Guard said. There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.

A helicopter found the wreckage about 7:30 p.m. Saturday about a mile west of Ontario's Pelee Island, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Christopher Pasciuto said. The crew did not immediately see any signs of life, he said.

The helicopter was unable to land because of safety concerns, Pasciuto said. Ice has formed on Lake Erie, but the lake has not iced over.

The Georgian Airways plane was bound for Windsor, Ontario, across the border from Detroit, and crashed about 20 miles north of Sandusky.

Officials with the Canadian Coast Guard, the Ontario Provincial Police and Transport Canada - Canada's equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration - did not immediately return calls for comment.

The region has been locked in bitterly cold weather, with temperatures in the 20s Saturday in northern Ohio. The water temperature in Lake Erie, where waves were running 3 feet to 5 feet, was about 33 degrees.

Bob Wernecke, a pilot who flies between Ohio's resort islands just south of Pelee Island, said he made six flights during the day before deciding about 5 p.m. that the low cloud cover and freezing rain had made conditions unsafe.

``It's nasty,'' he said by phone from Put-In-Bay. ``It's freezing drizzle, kind of bad.''

 

[Flying Illini]

Single engine with nine people on board? Was it a Caravan?

 

[flx757]

Single engine with nine people on board? Was it a Caravan?

Yes..according to this article...

Small Plane Crashes in Lake Erie


Jan 17, 10:08 PM (ET)


SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) - A single-engine plane carrying at least nine people crashed Saturday in snowy weather shortly after taking off from an island in Lake Erie, the U.S. Coast Guard said. There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.

The pilot radioed a frantic call for help shortly after taking off about 5 p.m., but controllers then lost contact with the plane, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Christopher Pasciuto said.

A helicopter found the wreckage about 7:30 p.m. Saturday about a mile west of Ontario's Pelee Island, Pasciuto said.

The wreckage of the Georgian Express plane was in the water with ice around it, airline president Paul Mulrooney said.


Helicopter search lights were scanning the water to look for survivors, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mark Freeman said. The cutter Neah Bay was headed from the Detroit area to join the search.

The plane, a Cessna 208 Caravan, was bound for Windsor, Ontario, across the border from Detroit, and crashed about 20 miles north of Sandusky.

Mulrooney said 10 people - nine passengers and a pilot - may have been on board, but it was unclear whether one passenger made the flight.