CLEVELAND — Search efforts for a missing plane last seen departing an Ohio airport Thursday is scheduled to continue Monday.
Six people were on board the plane when it disappeared over Lake Erie.
According to the city of Cleveland, weather conditions for Monday’s search are expected to be favorable with fairly calm waters and light wind. The search ended Sunday after it became dark.
The search is in 35- to 45-foot water across a grid that stretches about 2 ½ miles east to west across the shoreline and 2 miles north of the shore.
The city said seven vessels with four dive teams will be part of the search. Teams from New York State Police, Akron Fire, Toledo Fire, Cleveland Metroparks Rangers and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have join the water, air and shoreline search efforts. Coast Guard boats and the Cleveland Police helicopter also will be part of the search.
On Sunday, police confirmed a bag from the plane washed ashore in Bratenahl, Ohio. The bag contained the identification card and other items of John T. Fleming, the pilot. The city says it has received multiple reports of debris washing ashore east of Burke Lakefront Airport, where the plane took off. Some of that debris has been collected but not verified as being from the missing Cessna 525 Citation plane.
Fleming, his wife, their two sons and two neighbors were on board the plane after visiting Cleveland to attend the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game Thursday. They were traveling to the airport at Ohio State University in Columbus. Fleming, a Dublin, Ohio, resident, is the CEO of Superior Beverage Group, a Columbus beverage distribution company. Their plane dropped from radar about 2 miles north of shore, over Lake Erie.
Allan Eva, reportedly found the bag in Bratenahl. He said he fished it out of the water with a coat hanger.
“You feel like you’re looking at the spirit of that person … the character of that person just sort of pass through you,” said Eva. “It was a very stunning kind of a feeling.”
The Coast Guard began searching the air after being notified soon after the plane’s disappearance Thursday. High waves and blustery conditions prevented smaller Coast Guard boats from the Cleveland area from deploying Thursday night. A 140-foot Coast Guard cutter joined a search that covered 128 square miles of the lake on Friday.
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