Erroneous report of plane missing leads to search in Lucas County, plane landed safely in Mich.

4/21/2014

An apparently erroneous report of a missing airplane resulted in a brief search today near Toledo Express Airport.

The Lucas County Sheriff's Office and area fire departments dispatched crews near the airport about 2:30 p.m. after receiving information about the missing plane from air-traffic controllers. But it soon turned out that the plane, a single engine Piper P28, had landed safely at Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Mich.

Elizabeth Isham Cory, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said it is standard procedure for towers and authorities within 100 miles of a plane's intended flight path to be notified if the plane is reported missing.

Ms. Cory said reports that the plane had struck a bird and sustained a hydraulic failure were erroneous, too.