Missing Plane Sought in Coastal Waters

The Coast Guard searched from the air and sea Saturday off Orange County for a twin-engine aircraft that disappeared minutes after the pilot took off on a test flight from Torrance, authorities said.

Two Coast Guard helicopters and patrol boats scoured the waters off Huntington Beach, looking for wreckage, Petty Officer Kristine Horton said.

The Cessna 310 piloted by Peter Bell, 31, was reported missing Saturday morning after he failed to meet his wife, Kimberly, at their Carson home. The couple was to leave Saturday morning on a two-day pleasure trip to Prescott, Ariz.

After receiving the report of the missing plane, Federal Aviation Administration officials at Los Angeles International Airport reviewed tapes of their radar and discovered that the aircraft disappeared from the screen at 6:11 p.m. Friday, about 4 miles southeast of Los Angeles Harbor, Horton said.

Bell, who works as a mechanic and flight instructor with Rolling Hills Aviation in Torrance, took off from the Torrance Airport about 6 p.m., shortly after replacing the aircraft’s alternator, Horton said.

Three private aircraft, accompanied by two more planes from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, joined Coast Guard helicopters and patrol vessels in the search.

Horton said authorities are searching from Malibu to San Diego but are concentrating their search.

“Unfortunately, a lot of time lapsed since the plane disappeared and when the actual missing report was made, so if the plane went down, we’re guessing that with the drift of the water it is somewhere off Huntington Beach,” Horton said.