Three Choppers Search for Missing Plane Today Too

Although the weather conditions are not favourable for the search, helicopters will also search for the missing Cessna.

ZADAR, CROATIA – The search for the crew of he missing Cessna is in its fifth day and helicopters will become included in the search. The head of the Mountain Search and Rescue Service, Vinko Prizmic, said that three helicopters will be included in the search on Monday. They will search the side of Mount Velebit where it is believed that the missing Cessna is located. But the weather conditions are still not favourable for the search, despite the dissipation of clouds. 

- A strong wind is blowing. Fog is on the summit. Below it is sunny, but at the location we should be searching there is still a strong wind – Prizmic said.

Aircraft accident investigator at the Transport Ministry, Dinko Vodanovic, said on Sunday that at the time the Cessna fell of the radar, there as a flight ban over the area at between 6,500 and 16,000 feet, issued by the Defence Ministry. It is possible that due to poor visibility, the pilot crashed into the summit after he was warned that he was flying at a banned height of 8,500 feet, after which the pilot decided to drop to 5,500 feet (about 1,675 metres) just before the plane passed the Vagan summit whose altitude is 1,756 metres, Prizmic added.

- These are the facts, but not the reason for the plane crashing – he said.