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Search Called Off for Unresponsive Lancair Pilot

By Stephen Pope / Published: Aug 18, 2015

Related Tags: Accidents, News, Technique

Lancair Evolution

Lancair Evolution file photo from 2013 Flying feature.



Enlarge Photo Photo: Robert Goyer

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the pilot of a Lancair Evolution that went down in the Pacific Ocean 460 miles off the California coast Thursday night.

 

Coast Guard aircraft and ships searched for the crash site for five hours on Friday, reporting spotting aircraft debris but no signs of the pilot. They dropped a life raft in the water near the site where the airplane went down, but the pilot was never found.

 

At 7:40 p.m. local time on Thursday the 11th Coast Guard District received a report from the North American Aerospace Defense Command that the Lancair, which had departed from Palmdale, California, with just the pilot aboard, was not responding to communications and was flying out to sea.

 

Pilots of F-16s that were scrambled to intercept the Lancair at 25,000 feet and reported seeing the unresponsive pilot, identified as Troy Johnson, 39, slumped over the controls.