UPDATE 1: Coast Guard responds to report of downed aircraft near Drum Inlet, North Carolina 

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 5th District Mid-Atlantic Contact: 5th District Public Affairs Office: (757) 398-6272 After Hours: (757) 295-8435 5th District online newsroom

UPDATE 1: Coast Guard responds to report of downed aircraft near Drum Inlet, North Carolina 

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. – The Coast Guard is searching the area of a downed aircraft approximately 4 miles east of Drum Inlet Sunday evening. 

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center received a report of a possible downed aircraft from an air traffic controller at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point informing that the aircraft was seen behaving erratically on radar and then disappeared from the radar screen. 

A Coast Guard Station Fort Macon Motor Lifeboat crew was launched along with a Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet Response Boat-Small boat crew. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Air Station Elizabeth City was also launched to search the area.

A total of 8 people have been confirmed to have been aboard the Pilatus PC-12 single engine passenger aircraft. 

Also involved in the search are:

• Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fritch 
• National Park Service beach crews
• Towboat U.S. 
• Carteret County Sheriffs Office 
• Down East Fire Department 

-USCG-