Coast Guard en route to small plane crash in Gulf

Update: Friends Remember Pilot Who Crashed In Gulf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9dCXNAiSU8&feature=g-all-u&context=G28ebe4cFAAAAAlgACAA

Pilot crashes after losing consciousness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIAh7durtOE&feature=g-all-u&context=G2eb72dbFAAAAAAAAVAA

(RNN) – A twin-engine airplane has crashed into the Gulf of Mexico about three hours after Federal Aviation Administration officials lost contact with the aircraft.

Two F-14 fighter jets were scrambled to observe the airplane after FAA lost contact with the lone pilot about 9 a.m. ET on Thursday. NORAD says the jet pilots reported seeing the windows fogged up.

That implies the airplane may have lost cabin pressure.

CNN reported the pilot was unresponsive and may have been suffering from a lack of oxygen as he circled the Gulf. The plane was last initially seen at an altitude of 28,000 feet off the coast of the Panhandle.

The Jacksonville FAA Center last saw the plane around 12:03 p.m. ET at an altitude of 9,600 feet moving at 93 mph, according to FlightAware.com. Just a minute before, the Jacksonville FAA had tracked the plane at an altitude of 11,400 feet.

It has since dropped off the radar and the transponder has stopped working.

The plane took off from Slidell, LA, headed to Sarasota, FL. If the plane was fully loaded with fuel, it would have run out of gas by about 12:30 p.m. ET.

The Coast Guard dispatched an HC-144 ocean sentry plane out of Mobile, AL, to assist the plane. An NH-6- helicopter is on stand by.

The plane, a Cessna 421, is a twin-engine propeller plane that seats six. It is registered to Lee H. Aviation, Inc.

http://www.kplctv.com/story/17585511/pilot-unresponsive-in-plane-circling-the-gulf