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‘Mayday’ Call Prompts Plane Search

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U.S. Navy and Coast Guard planes and ships searched the Pacific Ocean Thursday night after receiving an emergency call that a pilot planned to ditch his plane in waters between John Wayne Airport and Catalina Island.

Petty Officer Cavin Jones at the Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center in Long Beach said four monitoring stations reported that at about 6:30 p.m. they heard a “Mayday” call on an emergency radio frequency that a pilot planned to ditch in waters between the airport and the island.

Jones said the type of aircraft, the number of people aboard and the reason for the ditching were not known.

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He said two Coast Guard patrol boats and two aircraft, as well as a Navy aircraft and a surface ship, searched for any sign of a downed aircraft. The aircraft were recalled at about 9 p.m. but the ships continued the search, Jones said.

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