The Civil Air Patrol was searching Friday for a small plane that left the airport in Mesa and never arrived in Winslow.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the single-engine Piper left Falcon Field at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday with a planned stop in Payson. The flight school that operates the aircraft reported the plane carrying three people overdue several hours later.
Civil Air Patrol Col. Bob Ditch said aircraft began searching an area west of Payson for the plane early Friday. That’s where the plane was last tracked on radar and where cell phone records last placed the passenger’s phones. He said it appears the plane never made it to Payson.
Ditch said search flights over the area had not been able to pick up any emergency locator beacon.
