FAA Investigating Reports Of Plane Crash Off North Carolina Coast
By Sarah Tate
February 14, 2022
Search crews are looking for passengers on board a plane that crashed off the coast of North Carolina Sunday (February 13). Aviation officials confirm that the plane disappeared from radar with eight passengers on board.
A small plane carrying eight people crashed about four miles east of Drum Inlet around 2 p.m. Sunday, WITN reports. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the craft is a private single-engine Pilatus PC-12/27 plane.
Watch Standers at the Coast Guard Sector North Carolina Command Center received reports of a possible downed aircraft from an air traffic controller at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point around 2 p.m. The plane reportedly had been seen on radar "behaving erratically" before it disappeared from the screen, according to the report.
On Monday, the Coast Guard provided an update that crews searched the area the plane is thought to have crashed but did not find any debris. Two Coast Guard boat crews as well as a helicopter air crew from Elizabeth City are assisting in the search.
The FAA, along with the National Transportation Safety Board, will investigate.
As of 11 a.m. Monday (February 14), no additional information has been released, including the identities of those on board the plane at the time of the crash.