Two pilots were missing and presumed dead after their small commuter plane, en route from Cape Cod to Albany, crashed into the waters of Hyannis Harbor yesterday afternoon after a failed emergency landing, officials said.
The pair were the only people aboard the Colgan Air Beechcraft 1900.
They had alerted controllers at Hyannis Airport that they had problems and were trying to turn around shortly after take-off – but went down in the water some three miles from the airfield.
Tim Bischoff, a businessman who saw the crash, told local television station WHDH that the plane had its landing gear down when it hit the water and that it made a couple of “nose-up and nose-down movements” before crashing.
Despite a search by Coast Guard helicopters and ships, the pilots had not been found some 2½ hours after the crash. The plane’s nose could be seen from the air siting eerily under the water.
“We are attempting to recover whatever bodies we can,” said a spokesman for the local fire department.
“The rescue ceased when it became apparent there were no survivors.”
The twin-engine, propeller-driven craft, which can carry 19 passengers, was scheduled to have flown from Albany on a flight with passengers, an airline spokeswoman said.
Colgan Air operates as a carrier for US Airways Express. With Post Wire Services