Coast Guard suspends search for NJ-bound plane

PRINCETON — The United States Coast Guard has suspended the search for a plane that crashed in Florida on the way to New Jersey on Thursday.

The flight took off from Orlando around 8:20 on Thursday morning, according to Flightaware, with a final destination listed as Princeton Airport. The plane reached a peak altitude of around 22,000 feet, and the last recorded altitude was 1,500 feet, according to Flightaware.

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center notified the Coast Guard of a distress call from the Piper PA-46 plane around 9:45 on Thursday morning, according to the Coast Guard. There were two people on the plane at the time it crashed, the Coast Guard said.

Following the crash several agencies were involved in the search effort, including Coast Guard stations in Florida and Georgia, as well as the United States Navy, Customs and Border Protection and local law enforcement agencies from Jacksonville.

"The suspension of an active search and rescue is never an easy decision to make,"  said Christopher Eddy, search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard 7th district. "We always want the best case scenario to happen and will continue to monitor for new information that could aid responders."

A statement from the Coast Guard said the search had covered approximately 1400 square miles over the course of 56 hours.

As of Sunday morning the Coast Guard was not identifying anyone on the plane pending notification of next of kin. The Coast Guard encouraged anyone with information about the crash to contact one of the responding agencies.

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