May 16--The wreckage of a small plane that had been reported missing early Sunday was found after an hours-long search in the foothills near Altadena, where at least one person onboard the aircraft was found dead, authorities said.
The Cessna 182 was found about 4 p.m. by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department search-and-rescue crews near Brown Mountain, sheriff's Deputy Kimberly Alexander said.
Sheriff's crews found the person dead at the scene, Alexander said. It's unclear how many people were on the plane.
The plane departed from San Diego shortly after 7:30 a.m. and was en route to Santa Monica Airport. Radar information from the flight-tracking website FlightAware showed that at some point over Los Angeles County, the plane veered northeast from its path to Santa Monica.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the fixed-wing single-engine plane was reported missing and that aviation officials lost contact with the plane about 17 miles east of Van Nuys.
An air traffic controller reported that the plane fell off the radar shortly before 9 a.m., sheriff's Lt. Randy Tuinstra said. The Sheriff's Department along with county firefighters searched for the plane but struggled with poor visibility.
"We just know the last place it pinged," L.A. County Fire Department Supervisor Bernard Peters said earlier in the day. The search had focused on the area near Mt. Wilson.
The missing plane was registered to a San Diego-based company, San Diego Skylane LLC.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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UPDATES:
5:31 p.m.: This story was updated with confirmation that the downed plane was located near Altadena.
This article was first posted at 11:18 a.m.
