CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A small plane with four people aboard is missing in South Texas after vanishing from radar shortly after the pilot reported encountering turbulence.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman says the last known position of the twin-turboprop Beechcraft King Air was about 40 miles west-southwest of Corpus Christi. That's where it vanished from FAA radar about 11:42 a.m. Monday.
FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford says the plane was flying from Uvalde to Leesburg, Fla., when controllers at FAA's Houston Center noticed it was losing altitude.
Lunsford says the pilot reported the turbulence was making it difficult to maintain his altitude of 25,000 feet. Radio and radar contact was lost shortly thereafter.
Lunsford says there were storms in that area today. He says low clouds and rain were hampering search activities, precluding aerial search.
©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
