A small plane registered to Peter Schultz, president and chief executive of Scripps Research in La Jolla, reportedly has been lost over the Pacific Ocean after taking off from Ramona Airport.
Scripps Research said Schultz was not on the single-engine, four-seat Cessna T240, which he had lent to someone else, according to a report by KPBS.
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The plane took off July 13, and shortly afterward, air traffic controllers lost contact with it after it was cleared to land at San Diego’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The search for the plane was suspended July 15 after the Coast Guard, with the help of the Navy and Marines, searched 2,600 square miles of ocean in an area about 400 miles off the coast, KPBS reported.
The name of the pilot wasn’t immediately available, KPBS said, and it wasn’t clear whether anyone else was on board. Schultz said through Scripps Research communications staff that the man flying the plane was a friend and a “very experienced pilot.”
According to the KPBS report, San Diegans who monitor air traffic frequencies said the Cessna got the attention of authorities when it flew across airspace reserved for San Diego International Airport.
