Cumberland, Md -- Cvil Air Patrol located the missing A36 Bonanza aircraft at approximately 5:45 p.m. on February 22 three miles northeast of the Cumberland Regional Airport. CAP members from Maryland Wing and West Virginia Wing conducted the search along with the Maryland State Police. There were no survivors.

CAP had established the Mission Base in Hagerstown, MD. Although adverse weather kept aircraft grounded, CAP ground teams from Frederick, Carroll County, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, St. Mary’s, Glenn L Martin, and College Park squadrons in Maryland were joined by CAP ground teams from Clarksburg and Morgantown in West Virginia. Maryland State Police Aviation Command, Special Operations Division, and Cumberland Barracks were involved in the search. Maryland State Police Intelligence Division assisted with cell phone tracking.

The aircraft departed Charleston, WV, enroute to Cumberland Regional Airport Thursday evening and last communicated with Cleveland Center Air Traffic Control around 8:00 p.m. The search concentrated in a 25 miles radius from Cumberland Regional Airport. Citizens from surrounding areas provided a number of leads.

The adverse weather hampered the search and aircraft were unable to conduct aerial searches. Maryland State Police were able to launch some sorties, but icing conditions limited their efforts.

Following the find, CAP teams conducted crash site surveillance in the area until released Saturday, February 23.

The U.S. CAP was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into World War II. CAP, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 55,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions, as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, and was credited by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center with saving 58 lives in 2006. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. Members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 22,000 young people currently participating in the CAP cadet program. For more information, go to www.cap.gov.