An octogenarian amateur pilot disappeared after taking off from a Michigan airport Sunday morning in his homemade plane, police said.
Richard Martin, 82, was last seen ascending into the sky from Dowagiac Municipal Airport around 11 a.m. as part of a Sunday ritual after breakfast at a local restaurant, WWMT reported. When hours later he did not land, the pilot was reported missing.
“It was a routine flight for him, just for fun, normally his flights last about an hour on average, he stays within the area,” Oscar Azevedo, manager of Dowagiac Municipal Airport, told the station.
“It’s something he does frequently when the weather is nice.”
He took off in a Sonex Plane, an experimental plane he put together in 2005, WWMT reported.
Azevedo said typically while Martin flies, his wife sits in a lawn chair soaking up the sun.
“The period of time was too long and it took him to return this time,” the airport manager said worriedly.
Martín has been missing since Sunday morning. Dowagiac Police Department.
Authorities are now searching for Martin in a county north of Dowagiac, police said.
Dowagiac Deputy Police Chief Kevin Roman told WVPE that Martin typically does not file a flight plan and did not do so on Sunday.
He built the small plane in 2005. Dowagiac Police Department.
“We’ve had a few calls mentioning a low-flying plane or a plane flying erratically,” Roman said, according to the radio station.
“But nothing like, ‘I saw the plane physically crash.’ “We haven’t heard anything about that kind of nature.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn