BREAKING: Missing Cessna Plane off Maui

Kahului Airport. Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

***An update is now posted at the following direct LINK.

A search is being conducted for a four-seat private Cessna 172S plane that went missing from radar at around 7 p.m. this evening (Saturday, December 1, 2012) while en route from Maui to Molokai.

Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu reports that the plane disappeared from radar approximately 2.5 miles north of Maui’s North Shore.

Officials from the US Coast Guard say it is unknown if anyone other than the pilot was aboard the craft.

Authorities from the Maui Fire Department say they were informed that the Cessna possibly crash landed northeast of Kahului Airport, most likely in the ocean.

Crews from the Maui Fire and Police Departments are conducting land searches, while the US Coast Guard is searching the ocean for the missing plane.

The US Coast Guard responded out of Oahu with an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter, an HC-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Barbers Point, and the Coast Guard Cutter Ahi was also deployed to assist.

The Maui Fire Department’s Engine-2 out of Paia initiated a search of the coastline area from Kuau to Pauwela. As of 9:05 p.m. Maui Fire Services Chief Lee Mainaga said there was nothing significant reported.