Plane Crash: Search For 'Angel Flight' Pilot

[Jazzy]

The search has resumed for the pilot of a volunteer medical flight days after the plane crashed in woods in upstate New York, killing at least two people.

Divers have been using sonar equipment to scour a big, murky pond where much of the wreckage of the Angel Flight aircraft was submerged.

Supervisor Todd Bradt said the divers had trouble seeing in the water because it was so muddy, but a piece of the plane was removed.

The flight's two passengers, a cancer patient and his wife, were found dead on Friday near the crash site in Ephratah, a small town about an hour west of Albany.

Another pilot Terence Kindlon said the husband was a marine veteran of Vietnam and was being treated for glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.

The search for the missing pilot was unsuccessful on Saturday and teams have also been looking in woods.

Angel Flight is a non-profit group that works with volunteer pilots and sets up free air transportation and medical care for sick patients.

It claims it has helped more than 65,000 children and adults on about 60,000 flights covering more than 12 million miles. It was founded in 1996.

Larry Camerlin, president and founder of Angel Flight Northeast, said the organisation was "tremendously saddened" by news of the crash.

The twin-engine Piper PA 34 had left Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachussetts and was heading to Rome in New York before it crashed just after 5pm on Friday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the plane did not issue a distress call before losing radar and radio contact.

Officials have not yet identified the passengers, pilot or cause of the crash.

Visibility at the time in Rome was 10 miles, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Montgomery. It was slightly raining with winds of 13-14 mph.

Witnesses described the destruction that started in the air above Ephratah, a sleepy town of about 700 people.

Full story with video

This is just so tragic. I hope they find the pilot today. I also wish I could be there to help look for him.