A missing pilot who took off from Sebastian Municipal Airport earlier this week was found dead inside his plane in the Bahamas, according to U.S. Embassy Nassau officials. Christopher Moore’s wife, Stayce Love, led search efforts in the Bahamas to find her husband.
A private search team located the aircraft Thursday in a marshy area in the vicinity of Marsh Harbour, said Connor Pascale, Coast Guard Liaison officer with the U.S. Embassy Nassau. Marsh Harbour is a town in the Abaco islands.
The team found Moore’s body in the red, white and blue aircraft.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, U.S. Coast Guard and family and friends of Moore had searched for any sign of the man or the plane since he departed from Sebastian on Sunday morning. Moore went on a solo trip in a single-engine, BRM Aero Bristell plane.
A relative notified Coast Guard officials on Sunday that Moore was missing when he did not reach his destination. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert notice informing agencies the aircraft was reported overdue.
The Coast Guard assisted the Bahamian defence force to track down Moore and the missing plane. Coast Guard officials searched more than 1,760 square miles across the ocean, said Nicholas Strasburg, petty officer third-class for the Coast Guard Seventh District.
The search yielded negative results. The Bahamian defence force’s search also did not find the plane or pilot.
The Bahamian defence force notified Coast Guard crews about 10 p.m. Monday that they suspended the search. Love continued to search for her husband in the Bahamas.
Volunteers searched on foot along nearby shorelines, as well as by boats and aircrafts. Love said on Thursday morning the search team tracked a cell phone ping of Moore’s location.
Love said Moore’s last known location, before the discovery of the wrecked plane, was near Marsh Harbour.
“He was radioing five miles out from Marsh Harbour,” Love said. The search team located the plane wreckage early Thursday afternoon, Pascale said.