Police Searching For Missing Plane In Marin County

Officers are searching for a private single engine aircraft that sent out a distress signal in rural West Marin County Monday night, according to a Marin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.

The California Office of Emergency Services notified police that a pilot of a single engine Beechcraft airplane reported having engine problems around 9:30 p.m. in an area 7 miles west of Gnoss Airport in Novato, police spokesperson Lieutenant Douglas Pittman said.

The aircraft was tracked via radar and was last detected via a radar emergency distress beacon that was emitted as the plane dropped below 600 feet in elevation, Pittman said. Heavy fog is hampering search efforts in the remote and hilly terrain.

Ground units equipped with emergency beacon locators and a Civil Air Patrol airplane with similar detecting equipment will be attempting to locate the downed plane.

--Bay City News