Colo. search suspended for Bend man’s missing plane

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) – The search for a small airplane piloted by a Bend man that went missing on its way from northern Colorado to Utah has been suspended.

The Boulder Daily Camera reports searchers spent nearly two weeks looking for the Cessna 210 with no luck after it took off from Erie on its way to Richfield, Utah on April 2. Authorities say the pilot, 67-year-old Quentin Aschoff, of Bend, was the only one on board.

The Colorado wing of the Civil Air Patrol says Aschoff was planning to follow Interstate 70 but diverted east after reaching Loveland Pass and began following U.S. Highway 285. The last radar contact with the plane was near Grant, Colorado, and cellphone signals stopped about 30 minutes later.

The plane didn’t have an operating transponder, and Aschoff didn’t file a flight plan.

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Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/