Coast guard investigated false alarm of downed plane near Ashtabula

ASHTABULA — A distress call from a plane downed in Lake Erie turned out to be nothing more than a false alarm and a case of a fisherman being mistaken for crash debris.

Coast Guard Public Information Officer and Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren Laughlin said it all started Sunday with a Canadian plane accidentally setting off a distress signal. 

The plane was in Canada and on the ground.

"The plane accidentally set off the distress signal at around 1:30 p.m.," she said. "Another plane in the air (over the American side of the lake) heard the distress call. The plane in the air was occupied by its pilot, his wife and two children, ages 5 and 7. The pilot and his wife couldn't see anything, but the two children claimed they saw debris, so the pilot called the Coast Guard."

Two Coast Guard vessels, one from Ashtabula Harbor and another from Fairport Harbor, and a helicopter immediately located the coordinates of the reported crash and headed for the scene. On arrival they located no crashed plane, but instead found a fisherman.

"When the boats got there there was only a fisherman," she said. "He said he had been there since 8 a.m. and saw no crash."

Laughlin said the boats and chopper continued searching for another couple hours before learning the original distress call was a mistake and there were no current missing person or missing aircraft reports. The searchers were out for over four hours before finding out the signal was a false alarm and returning to port.

"We continued to search because the Coast Guard must take all these reports seriously," she said. 

Source:  http://www.starbeacon.com