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 the body of the pilot whose Cessna 421 crashed into the Gulf of Mexico after remaining unresponsive to air traffic control.
The aircraft, flown by a 65-year-old doctor, was observed by F-15 jets flying erratically with iced-over windows at high altitudes before it went down approximately 120 miles west of Tampa.
While the cause is unknown, the incident is drawing comparisons to past crashes involving loss of cabin pressure.

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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.