Missing Ohio Plane: Flight Restriction Issued While Crews Search

CLEVELAND, OH - The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a temporary flight restriction for an area north of Burke Lakefront Airport while crews search for the missing Cessna 525 airplane that went missing last Thursday. The temporary restriction will be lifted Jan. 9. Aircrafts will not be allowed to fly lower than 3000 feet.

A Cockpit Voice Recorder transmission was detected during yesterday's search for the remains of the plane. The plane was carrying six people, including three children.

The recovery team says the transmissions are being used to narrow down the search site for the Cockpit Voice Recorder to a 125 by 325-foot search area. Divers were unable to search the grid yesterday because of inclement weather. Early signs are that today's weather will allow crews to actively search the new grid.

"Waves are predicted to be two feet or less today with winds west/southwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour. The temperature will be 13 degrees in the morning with a high of 19 degrees later in the day. If conditions are as predicted, searches will begin at daylight," the recovery operation's blog said.

The FAA issued the following map with its flight restriction:

The Cessna 525 Citation went missing from Burke Lakefront Airport last week. By early Tuesday morning of this week, the recovery operation had located more than 120 pieces of debris that they say is consistent with a Cessna 525.

The plane took off from Burke Lakefront at about 11 p.m. and dropped off the radar shortly thereafter. After dropping off the radar shortly after 11 p.m., the Coast Guard was contacted by Air Traffic Control Services at 11:30 p.m., who requested assistance in locating the missing plane. Teams have been scouring the water ever since.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch and Graphic from FAA