Coast Guard identifies pilot whose plane went missing after leaving Reading airport

The Coast Guard has released the name of the missing pilot whose plane is believed to have crashed into the ocean about 3 ½ miles off the Massachusetts coast after taking off from Reading Regional Airport on Sunday.

The pilot was Roger Mills, 67, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Boston. No other identifying information is being released, she said.

The Cape Code Times reported Tuesday that FAA records confirmed that Mills of Woburn, Mass., owned a 1979 Piper PA-28, the same make and model plane as the one that went down Sunday. According to his LinkedIn page, Mills was a retired vice president of customer service at Hologic, a global medical technology company with headquarters in Marlboro, Mass., the newspaper reported.

A National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman said Thursday that the agency is investigating, but had no further comment.

Crews searched a total of 55 hours covering more than 2,076 square miles in the area of Nauset Beach with no sign of the pilot or aircraft, officials from the Coast Guard’s Northeast 1st District said.

There was only one person on board the plane, the Coast Guard said.

The white and beige Piper 28 left Regional Airport in Bern Township and was reported missing Sunday at 10:34 p.m., the Coast Guard said. It was headed to Chatham Municipal Airport in Massachusetts.

The original call was made to the Air Force Regional Command Center by a concerned friend who was waiting for the aircraft in Chatham. The Air Force then contacted the Coast Guard.

The aircraft’s last transmitted transponder signal was at 6:49 p.m., descending at 4,000 feet per minute.

Coast Guard calls off search for missing plane that took off from Reading Regional Airport

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3qbqq5A