Search To Resume 8AM Wednesday / Airplane Carrying Four Goes Missing From Ellijay *UPDATE* Passengers Names Confirmed

Update: FYN went to the Gilmer County Airport tonight and spoke with Major Paige Joyner, Public Affairs Director for the Georgia Wing of the CAP. Major Joyner said there are always rumors in these situations, but at this time they have to call off the search for the night. The search will resume at 8am Wednesday morning.

A small airplane carrying three local residents and a visitor from Ohio has gone missing after taking off from Ellijay Airport at 10:30 Monday morning. The Civil Air Patrol is currently conducting a search for the aircraft.

FYN received the following information from Sheriff Nicholson:

The names of the plane occupants are Woody Pierce, Mattie Pierce, Patricia Smith all of Ellijay and Phil Key of Ohio and formally of Ellijay

.

The Sheriff says “not much more to offer at this point.”

Original Article: The flight was intended to be a sightseeing trip “within a 50-mile radius of the airport”, according to FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen. The aircraft was operating under Visual Flight Rules, a type of flying done at relatively low altitudes during the daytime that does not require pilots to file a flight plan.

The Civil Air Patrol, which is an auxiliary program of the USAF, had set up a command post at the Ellijay Airport Tuesday morning. The CAP is using four Cessna 172 and 182 aircraft to search for the missing plane. According to Major Paige Joyner, Public Affairs Director for the Georgia Wing of the CAP, the single-engine aircraft is a white Beechcraft 35 “Bonanza”.