A small plane owned by Scripps Research Institute CEO Peter Schultz disappeared off the San Diego coast after the pilot became unresponsive during approach to Montgomery-Gibbs Airport.

San Diego

A single-engine Cessna TTX, owned by Scripps Research Institute CEO Peter Schultz, disappeared hundreds of miles off the San Diego coast after the pilot became unresponsive during an approach to Montgomery-Gibbs Airport. The flight, which originated in Ramona, was cleared to approach but never landed, and the pilot did not respond to air traffic control.

The aircraft continued on autopilot in a straight line out to sea for approximately 500 miles before vanishing. Schultz was not on board; the pilot, an experienced aviator and friend of Schultz, has not been publicly identified. The Coast Guard has been contacted regarding search operations, but no further information has been released.

Small plane disappears hundreds of miles off San Diego coast

The straight line is very indicative of it being on autopilot. A straight line into the ocean. A small plane owned by a local renowned researcher has disappeared hundreds of miles off the coast of San Diego. At one point the plane turned and began approaching Montgomery Field, but as ABC 10 News reporter Michael Chen tells us, the pilot was never heard from again. Just before 2 p.m. Sunday, the single-engine Cessna TTX was about eight miles out and cleared to approach at Montgomery Gibbs Airport. The landing never happened. That particular heading that he was on is a good heading to intercept the final approach course for Montgomery, but then he never turned on the final. Pilot and former aircraft accident investigator Reach Martindale says during the flight, which originated in Ramona, it appears something went wrong suddenly. The pilot never responding to the tower. And it was just after he turned southwest, the long straight line begins. It looks very indicative of a loss of consciousness or something, a lot of incapacitation. Not long after, aircraft control at San Diego International Airport was redirecting traffic because of an unresponsive plane. There's a traffic violator flying through the departure corridor, so I'm just going to hold it there. The path of the plane carrying it west of San Diego for some 500 miles before it disappeared. A perfectly straight line tells me he was using autopilot to fly the airplane, and at whatever point he becomes incapacitated, the autopilot just keeps flying the last thing it was told to do. ABC 10 News has learned the owner of the plane is Peter Schultz, a renowned chemist and CEO of the Scripps Research Institute. A statement from the Scripps Research Institute confirming that Schultz is the owner of the plane and was not on the plane. Also that the pilot is a friend of his who is an experienced pilot. The identity of the pilot hasn't been released, but I did speak to someone who knows him. She calls him a genius biologist, dedicated and humble. She says she and the family of young scientists he mentored are devastated. Michael Chen, ABC 10 News. It's believed the pilot was the only one on board. We reached out to the Coast Guard to see if there was a search. We are now waiting to hear back.

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