Unresponsive Cessna 421 Pilot Crashes in Gulf of Mexico

Bethany Whitfield

Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 11:02 PM ET

Verified

** The flight path of the Cessna 421 shows the
airplane flying erratically before crashing in the
Gulf of Mexico.**

Key Takeaways:

Authorities have suspended the search for a Cessna 421 pilot who crashed into the Gulf of Mexico after remaining unresponsive to air traffic control calls for several hours.
The aircraft was observed by F-15 pilots flying erratically with iced-over windows and fluctuating altitude between 25,000 and 35,000 feet before it went down 120 miles west of Tampa.
The 65-year-old doctor from New Orleans identified as the pilot showed no signs of survival after the crash, and while the cause is unknown, comparisons to incidents involving loss of cabin pressure are being made.

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Authorities have suspended the search for the body of the Cessna 421 pilot who crashed into the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon after remaining unresponsive to air traffic control calls for several hours.

The Cessna 421 took off from Slidell, Louisiana, on Thursday morning and headed southeast over the Gulf, but drew concern from air traffic controllers around 9 a.m. when they lost contact with the pilot. As the aircraft circled erratically over the Gulf in the region near Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, controllers at the Jacksonville Air Traffic Control Center requested two F-15s flying in the area to assess the situation.