Coast Guard Searching for Pilot off Cape Cod
NAUSET BEACH — The U.S. Coast Guard and emergency crews are searching for a man whose plane went down off of Nauset Beach last night.
The agency tweeted just after midnight that crews from Coast Guard Station Chatham and Air Station Cape Cod helicopters were responding to a report of a downed aircraft with a single occupant off the Cape Cod beach.
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the call came in at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday from a friend who was waiting for male pilot at Chatham Airport.
According to the spokesperson, the man was heading to Chatham Airport from Pennsylvania in a white and beige Piper PA-28, which is a light single-engine plane.
The aircraft's last transmitted transponder signal was at 6:49 p.m. descending at 4,000 feet per minute four miles east of Sampson Island, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
Conditions were clear in the area last night, according to the National Weather Service.
The Coast Guard noted in a statement that the weather at the time showed 3 to 6-foot seas with 15 mph winds.
Coast Guard Cutters Spencer and Sanibel along with local emergency responders including harbormasters from Harwich, Chatham, and Orleans are involved in the search.