Air Patrol May Call Off Search for Plane Missing Since Nov. 14
The Civil Air Patrol search for five people aboard a Cessna that disappeared between Arizona and Orange County may be ending after three weeks.
Representatives of the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the Air Force, plan to talk with Air Force officials today to decide whether to suspend the search for the plane, which disappeared after it left Bullhead City, Ariz., en route for Fullerton on Nov. 14.
Search coordinators need to “see if any prime prospects may have been missed,” said Lt. Col. Joe Bradley of the CAP. The Air Force Rescue and Coordination Center in St. Louis authorizes the beginning and suspension of all CAP searches, Bradley said.
Including Wednesday’s search, the CAP has flown almost 600 sorties over about 25,000 square miles along the suspected flight path, Bradley said.
The pilot, Richard Niemela, 37, of La Mirada, was accompanied by Kathy Bird, 33, and her husband, Jeff Bird, 32, of Fullerton; Jeff’s brother, Bradley Bird, 33, of Placentia and Natalie Erickson, 19, of Placentia, investigators said.
Ed Niemela, brother of the pilot, and Don Erickson, father of Natalie, both said they will try to coordinate a land and air search if the CAP suspends its flights.
“My thinking is that they’ll suspend,” Don Erickson said. “We’re real concerned it might be called off.”
Ed Niemela said their own search might begin in the next few days along the northeast side of the San Bernardino Mountains.
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