At least three Civil Air Patrol planes and two search-and-rescue ground teams are looking for a twin engine Cessna that went missing earlier this afternoon.
The Cessna airplane, which took off from Animas Airpark in Durango at 6:30 a.m., arrived in Hayden around 7:30 a.m. From Hayden, the plane was scheduled to arrive at the Fort Collins airport around 9 a.m.
When the plane failed to arrive in Fort Collins, family members notified the FAA. Since 11 a.m., the Civil Air Patrol, which is an official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, has been collecting and analyzing radar and cell phone data from the plane.
Dawn Alperti, the public information officer with the Routt County Search-and-rescue team, said ground teams, as well as the Civil Air Patrol are looking for the plane in the area of North California park.
Alperti said the last-known radar from the plane puts the aircraft in the vicinity of the park, but she does not know whether the plane is down in the area.
At least one additional ground team will head out this evening in search of the craft, Alperti said.
Anna Haislip: 303-954-1638, ahaislip@denverpost.com
