NMSP NEWS

On Sept. 26, New Mexico State Police were notified of an airplane that went missing after taking off from the Santa Fe Airport.

The airplane was a single engine fixed winged four seat aircraft out of Colorado. There were two occupants, a pilot and a passenger.  They were last seen refueling and taking off from the Santa Fe Airport, when Santa Fe air traffic control lost contact with the airplane.

A search and rescue was initiated by New Mexico State Police.  New Mexico Civil Air Patrol and a New Mexico Army National Guard helicopter. New Mexico Search and Rescue ground teams searched the area of the last known location of the airplane’s emergency beacon.  A search was conducted in the Santa Fe National Park and the Pecos Wilderness.

On Sept. 30, at around 9 a.m., after a three-day intensive search, New Mexico State Police and a NM Search and Rescue ground team located an airplane crash site in the Pecos Wilderness, near Hamilton Mesa in Mora County.  There were two unidentified bodies located in the crash.  They were pronounced deceased by the Office of Medical Investigator.  New Mexico State Police is working in collaboration with the Office of Medical Investigator to identify the deceased and confirming the identity of the airplane.  At this time it is not confirmed that this is the missing airplane.

National Traffic Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration ) investigators were notified to investigate the crash.  Inquiries into the cause of the crash should be made to the FAA.  No other information is available.