FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 31, 2011 file photo, an helicopter floats on the water close to the Octopus yacht, owned by Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen, at Ushuaia port, some 3,300 km, about 2045 miles, south of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Allen's mega-yacht - and perhaps even the billionaire himself - are part of a flotilla scouring the Pacific for an American pilot and two Palau police officers whose plane disappeared over the weekend.
(AP Photo/Alejandro Madril, File)
USCG suspends its search for 3 missing near Palau
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 31, 2011 file photo, an helicopter floats on the water close to the Octopus yacht, owned by Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen, at Ushuaia port, some 3,300 km, about 2045 miles, south of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Allen's mega-yacht - and perhaps even the billionaire himself - are part of a flotilla scouring the Pacific for an American pilot and two Palau police officers whose plane disappeared over the weekend.
(AP Photo/Alejandro Madril, File)
April 5, 2012
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MELEKEOK, Palau—The U.S. Coast Guard is suspending its search for an American pilot and two Palau police officers whose plane disappeared Sunday near Palau in the western Pacific.
Capt. Casey White said in a Coast Guard statement Thursday it was still supporting local search efforts. The Cessna that disappeared Sunday carried pilot Frank Ohlinger and passengers Willy Towai and Earl Decherong.
The plane was trying to reach a Chinese boat suspected of clam poaching. But Ohlinger radioed to say his GPS navigational device failed and later to report low fuel.
The search flotilla included the mega-yacht Octopus owned by
Palau is about 500 miles east of the Philippines.
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