NATION : Plane With 11 Aboard Missing : Sightseeing Plane With 11 Aboard Missing Over Hawaiian Islands
HONOLULU — A twin-engine plane with 11 people aboard disappeared on what was to have been an hourlong tour of the Hawaiian Islands, and searchers used helicopters and boats to look for the plane, the U.S. Coast Guard said today.
The Coast Guard Cutter Point Harris searched overnight through the channel separating the islands of Hawaii and Maui for the Scenic Air Tour Hawaii plane that vanished Sunday afternoon.
The Coast Guard was concentrating its search for the plane off the northeast coast of the island of Hawaii, the last confirmed location of the twin-engine Beechcraft.
The last communication with the pilot was when he radioed an FAA ground station that he had taken off from Hilo for Maui’s Kahului Airport, the FAA’s George Harvey said.
The plane was to have toured Hawaii Island, including erupting Kilauea Volcano, before flying on to Maui, said David Tom, a Scenic Air Tours Hawaii reservations clerk in Honolulu.
Tom said the 10 passengers aboard the plane had set out earlier Sunday from Honolulu on the island of Oahu.
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