Search For Pilot Continues After Sunday Incident

Personnel from Training Center Cape May are searching for the pilot of a plane that illegally landed on a secured Coast Guard beach on Sunday.

Multiple agencies are responding to the aircraft landing, including the Coast Guard Fire Department, Cape May County Police Department, the Cape May County Sheriff's K-9 Unit, the Coast Guard Police Department and Coast Guard Investigative Services.

Coast Guard watchstanders became aware of the incident at 7:52 p.m., after the plane was seen landing on the beach by closed circuit cameras.  The Cape May County Police Department and Coast Guard Police Department responded at approximately 8:10 p.m.

All units are currently still searching for the missing pilot.

The Coast Guard Training Center is currently in a heightened security posture until the incident is resolved, according to a Coast Guard news release.

Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards told television station WTXF that the missing pilot is not thought to be "aboard" the training center.

"After working with Cape May County Sheriff's Department's K-9 unit, which indicated the pilot's scent led away from the training center, as well as physical tracks from the plane and security camera footage showing the pilot heading away from the training center itself, the command decided to resume standard security measures," Edwards said.

Authorities said the PA-18 airplane is owned by a banner-towing company that flies advertising over the beach. A representative for that company told The Press of Atlantic City that the pilot was flying the plane without permission at the time of the incident.

(USCG image)

FMI: www.uscg.mil, Original report