Mystery distress signal brought some 75 people searching for downed plane in Barnegat
BARNEGAT — Some 75 people operating drones, ATVs, firefighting equipment, a helicopter and police officers and firefighters on foot searched for a possible downed plane Tuesday afternoon after Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst sent out an alert that a pilot might be in danger, authorities said.
After a three-hour search, the rescue crews found no plane.
McGuire sent an alert out to police around 2:50 p.m. about a plane that had issued a single distress signal over western Barnegat Township, Barnegat’s newly-sworn-in Police Chief Jason Carroll said.
McGuire had called aviation officials in Atlantic City, which did not receive the signal, Carroll said, deepening the mystery. Still, McGuire issued the alert, first to Stafford police, “out of abundance of caution,” Carroll said.
Carroll spoke to air traffic controllers at McGuire and in Atlantic City and Philadelphia who educated him on Emergency Location Transmitters (ELTs). They sound a distress signal when there has been impact. But the signal can also be mistakenly activated or caused by a rough landing, Carroll said
Only one plane landed at Eagle's Nest Airport in Eagleswood, the closest airport to Barnegat, in the timeframe that the single ELT alert came in, Carroll said. The Eagle's Nest plane wasn’t believed to be the source of the activation, he said.
After getting a quick lesson on aviation safety and assessing the situation on the ground, Carroll called the report of a possible downed plane unfounded around 5:45 p.m.
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Aside from the prospect of a catastrophic plane crash, there was another concern for the Pine Barrens, Carroll said.
“Of course, you're concerned for a person or persons that might be in an airplane and have been injured or lost their lives but the bigger issue for us and the community is a fire,” Carroll said. “A plane crashes, spills fuel that causes this fire and you get some some wind behind it and then we've got a much bigger issue.”
The following agencies participated in the search: Barnegat and Stafford police departments, fire departments and first aid squads, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, the Ocean County Sheriff's Office, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the Ocean County Fire Marshal, the Federal Aviation Administration's Philadelphia office, New Jersey State Police, Little Egg Harbor police, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and Atlantic City International Airport.
Ken Serrano covers breaking news, crime and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Search of Pine Barrens triggered by mystery distress call from plane
