Wreck Spotted in Search for 2 Men in Missing Plane : Tehachapi Mountains: Two fatalities feared. Craft matches that of pilot and Antelope Valley College instructor.

The wreckage of a plane matching the description of a missing aircraft--which vanished Thursday night carrying a veteran pilot and a popular Antelope Valley College instructor--was sighted in the Tehachapi Mountains late Friday and two people appeared to be dead in the wreck, authorities reported.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter crew sighted the remnants of a plane--matching the description of the one in which pilot Desmond E. McCarthy and his student, college instructor Art Aurand, disappeared Thursday night--about 24 miles northwest of Lancaster, said Kern and Los Angeles county sheriff’s deputies.

Two people appeared to be dead in the wreckage, said Kern County Sgt. Robert Gomez, but the helicopter crew could not land because of the terrain and approaching darkness. A search crew was to be sent in today on foot or by helicopter.

Deputies could not confirm the identity of the bodies, seen in wreckage at the 7,500-foot level of an 8,000-foot-high mountain peak, said Los Angeles county Sgt. Ray Davis.

A Civil Air Patrol search for the wreckage of McCarthy’s single-engine Cessna 172 was hampered Friday by heavy clouds.

CAP Col. Bob Fowler said McCarthy of Palmdale took off from Fox Field in Lancaster at 8 p.m. for a nightly trip to Bakersfield and back. In addition to operating an aviation and flight instruction business, McCarthy also flew bank records--such as canceled checks--to Bakersfield each night, Fowler said.

Fowler said McCarthy was joined on the flight by a student pilot identified by Antelope Valley College administrators as Aurand, 48, of Quartz Hill. Aurand, who has taught political science and California history for 23 years at the school in Lancaster, was described as well-liked by students and fellow faculty members.

“He was in the process of getting his pilot’s license and was asked if he wanted to go along to increase his flying hours,” said Steve Standerfer, director of public relations for the school.

Fowler said there was heavy cloud cover along the flight path believed followed by the two fliers. McCarthy, with more than 20,000 flying hours and 20 years as an instructor, was certified for instrument flight by the Federal Aviation Administration, Fowler said.

The same poor weather made the search for the missing plane difficult Friday.

“The weather in the area between Bakersfield and Fox Field was socked in,” Fowler said. “It is mountainous terrain. You don’t know whether the next cloud contains a mountain or not.”