GATLINBURG, Tenn. – Officials are looking for a plane that may have gone missing with three people aboard over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Monday evening.
A release from park officials says they received a report around 7:35 p.m. that a missing single-engine airplane might have gone down in the central area of the park. It was reported missing south of the Gatlinburg–Pigeon Forge Airport.
Park rangers are working with the Civil Air Patrol in an attempt to locate the plane.
Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, says authorities are seeking a Cessna 182 aircraft and searchers are focusing on an area about 15 miles south-southeast of the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport.
The Associated Press reports that Bergen said three people were aboard the aircraft reported missing, but she had no immediate information on what happened.
The plane was reported missing about 7:35 p.m. Monday near an airport billed as a foothills gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.