The following is an artical from a Vero Beach (FL) newspaper~ Quick summery... One of my closest friend's parents and brother where flying back from a Father's Day retreat in the Bahamas when their plane disappeared off radar~ This was on Monday.. and still nothing has been found~
Please add these good people to your prayers~ It hurts me to say they are most likely in the good hands of our Lord, but this family needs closure~
Thanks for your support..in advance!
Private search finds no trace of missing airplane or Vero Beach trio aboard
Pilots and boaters from Jacksonville to Fort Pierce couldn't find the airplane that vanished over the ocean.
By Elliott Jones and Adam L. Neal
staff writers
June 23, 2005
VERO BEACH - Private pilots and boaters have picked up where the Coast Guard left off in looking for signs of a private airplane that vanished Monday in the ocean off Port St. Lucie during bad weather.
On Wednesday, they still came back with the same results: no evidence, the searchers said.
But they aren't giving up.
"Everyone is being so supportive," said Laurie Helseth Ashley, sister of the missing pilot, Joseph Helseth, 60, of Vero Beach. He was flying with his wife, Paulette Helseth; and her son, Scott Sheline, when his two-engine Piper airplane vanished from radar in route to Fort Pierce.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday morning stopped an intensive, air and sea search that lasted for a day following the airplane's disappearance.
At the request of pilot's relatives, private pilots took to the air Wednesday to continue looking as far north as the oceans off Jacksonville. Remains could have been carried north by the currents of the Gulf Stream, a river in the ocean.
Also, some boaters joined in, searchers said.
Airplane search organizer David Williamson of Vero Beach headed up a contingent of private airplanes from the Vero Beach area. Also, another group of pilots from Ormond Beach and Jacksonville searched the oceans off northeast Florida.
Helseth family members also called upon U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, who asked the Coast Guard to continue looking into the matter.
"It helps us as a family," Ashley said. "It is very, very frustrating. It is like our hands are tied. It is awful just sitting here.
"We need closure, to find wreckage or whatever," she said.
About six aircraft flew out from the Vero Beach and Fort Pierce area, Williamson said.
"We searched all day long," said Williamson, who landed at 4 p.m. "There was dangerous weather right near where they think the plane went down. I didn't see any traces of debris at all."
Williamson plans to be back up in the air today.
Coast Guard helicopter pilot Tim Denby of Miami already was patrolling over the ocean when he got a call that Helseth's airplane vanished off the radar 40 miles northeast of Stuart, Denby said.
Within a half hour, he was on the scene. By then, visibility was good and waves were only two feet.
For seven hours the Coast Guard pilot and his three-member crew searched in their short-range rescue helicopter outfitted to pluck people from the ocean. They only stopped to refuel in Stuart.
Other federal aircraft joined in, as did Coast Guard vessels and private boats and ships.
Asked if it is unusual that nothing has been found, Denby said each case is individual.
<!--EDIT|GJoker
Reason for Edit: None given...|1119588823 -->
Please add these good people to your prayers~ It hurts me to say they are most likely in the good hands of our Lord, but this family needs closure~
Thanks for your support..in advance!
Private search finds no trace of missing airplane or Vero Beach trio aboard
Pilots and boaters from Jacksonville to Fort Pierce couldn't find the airplane that vanished over the ocean.
By Elliott Jones and Adam L. Neal
staff writers
June 23, 2005
VERO BEACH - Private pilots and boaters have picked up where the Coast Guard left off in looking for signs of a private airplane that vanished Monday in the ocean off Port St. Lucie during bad weather.
On Wednesday, they still came back with the same results: no evidence, the searchers said.
But they aren't giving up.
"Everyone is being so supportive," said Laurie Helseth Ashley, sister of the missing pilot, Joseph Helseth, 60, of Vero Beach. He was flying with his wife, Paulette Helseth; and her son, Scott Sheline, when his two-engine Piper airplane vanished from radar in route to Fort Pierce.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday morning stopped an intensive, air and sea search that lasted for a day following the airplane's disappearance.
At the request of pilot's relatives, private pilots took to the air Wednesday to continue looking as far north as the oceans off Jacksonville. Remains could have been carried north by the currents of the Gulf Stream, a river in the ocean.
Also, some boaters joined in, searchers said.
Airplane search organizer David Williamson of Vero Beach headed up a contingent of private airplanes from the Vero Beach area. Also, another group of pilots from Ormond Beach and Jacksonville searched the oceans off northeast Florida.
Helseth family members also called upon U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, who asked the Coast Guard to continue looking into the matter.
"It helps us as a family," Ashley said. "It is very, very frustrating. It is like our hands are tied. It is awful just sitting here.
"We need closure, to find wreckage or whatever," she said.
About six aircraft flew out from the Vero Beach and Fort Pierce area, Williamson said.
"We searched all day long," said Williamson, who landed at 4 p.m. "There was dangerous weather right near where they think the plane went down. I didn't see any traces of debris at all."
Williamson plans to be back up in the air today.
Coast Guard helicopter pilot Tim Denby of Miami already was patrolling over the ocean when he got a call that Helseth's airplane vanished off the radar 40 miles northeast of Stuart, Denby said.
Within a half hour, he was on the scene. By then, visibility was good and waves were only two feet.
For seven hours the Coast Guard pilot and his three-member crew searched in their short-range rescue helicopter outfitted to pluck people from the ocean. They only stopped to refuel in Stuart.
Other federal aircraft joined in, as did Coast Guard vessels and private boats and ships.
Asked if it is unusual that nothing has been found, Denby said each case is individual.
<!--EDIT|GJoker
Reason for Edit: None given...|1119588823 -->
