POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Federal authorities are investigating a small plane crash off the coast of South Florida after U.S. Coast Guard crews recovered a person’s body.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot of a Cessna 172 departed from Pompano Beach Airpark at around 9:30, Thursday morning.
The last data, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, was at 10:15 a.m., which was roughly 45 minutes after the plane took off.
Investigators said the aircraft crashed into the ocean northeast of Pompano Beach sometime later.
FAA officials said the pilot was the only one on board.
U.S. Coast Guard officials said crews from their Lake Worth Inlet base spent hours searching the waters. At around 6 p.m., they found the plane’s wheel, two life jackets and a body believed to be the pilot’s in the water. They stopped searching just before 7 p.m.
The FAA and the NTSB continue to investigate the crash.
It remains unknown what caused the plane to crash, and the FAA has yet to identify the pilot.
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