SANTA PAULA : Search Continues for Single-Engine Plane

Authorities were searching Sunday for the 61-year-old pilot of a single-engine plane and his passenger, believed missing after taking off from Santa Paula Airport more than a week ago.

The two men, whose names were not released by the Civil Air Patrol, were reported missing April 12, said Capt. Diane Blanchard. A friend said the men had plans to fly from Santa Paula to Bakersfield on April 7, but no one noticed that they were missing until the pilot did not come in to work to pick up his paycheck, Blanchard said.

Authorities are fairly certain that the two men left Santa Paula Airport on April 7, but the pilot did not file a flight plan indicating his destination, Blanchard said. Checks at Bakersfield Airport and other area airports produced no sign of the small, red and white, high-wing plane, Blanchard said.

“If we had gotten on it earlier, the chances would have been better. All airplanes have emergency locater transmitters . . . the signal would have been stronger,” Lt. Katherine Kelley said.

The Civil Air Patrol began searching Friday morning from Bakersfield Airport, Kelley said. Twenty planes from Camarillo Airport began searching in Ventura County on Saturday, and 10 planes searched Sunday. The Civil Air Patrol reduced the number of search planes Sunday because of Easter, Blanchard said. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Aviation Unit, which flies helicopters, was also called over the weekend to help search, Blanchard said.