Navy T-34, Crew Missing off Texas

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A Navy T-34 plane with two people aboard has gone missing off the Texas gulf coast.
 
U.S. Coast Guard officials said an air traffic controller at Corpus Christi's naval air station lost contact with the crew about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. The single-engine, propeller-driven trainer aircraft was last reported near Port Lavaca.

The Coast Guard has dispatched a helicopter, jet and boats to search for the plane.

Port Lavaca is about 75 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

According to a report by KRIS TV in Corpus Christi, the search area is along the coast of Matagorda Island, and search officials believe wind and currents could be pushing any wreckage in that direction.

"It [the plane] has a very heavy nose and not much floatation, so it will go down very quickly in most seas," Jerry Richardson, a pilot instructor at the Municipal Airport in Rockport, told the station.