Coast Guard, Mexican Navy search for plane, surgeon pilot
by from on (#4SRXD)
A U.S. Coast Guard plane and a Mexican Navy vessel are searching the Gulf of Mexico for a small plane and the surgeon who flew it far beyond his Louisiana destination. The Coast Guard said Thursday that Steven Schumacher's family reported him overdue at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, two hours after he was scheduled to land near Baton Rouge, La. A Coast Guard spokesperson says an online flight tracker showed the Piper Aztec's last known position about 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, about 700 kilometres past Louisiana's coast. FAA spokesperson Lynn Lunsford says Schumacher never checked onto the Houston air traffic control centre's frequency and didn't respond to attempts to contact him. St. Francis Healthcare System of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, says he's a trauma surgeon with partner organization Cape Trauma Specialists.