US Coast Guard Ends Search For Pilot Who Disappeared Off Boca Raton

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for a pilot who went missing off South Florida's coast.

Brendan Spratt, 87, was last heard from on Tuesday, February 23th. Spratt's son said his father checked in and told him he on Friday would be flying his Lancair 320 from Spruce Creek to Boca Raton and was scheduled to land the same day in a private community that had its own airstrip.

He never made it.

On Friday, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center contacted the U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District at approximately 11:30 a.m. regarding a downed aircraft, described as a Lancair 320 with at least one person aboard, approximately 15 miles southeast of Boca Raton.

A massive search was launched but after scouring nearly 16,000 square miles nothing was found.

"The decision to suspend a case is never an easy one," said Lt. Shawn Antonelli, a command duty officer for U.S. Coast Guard District Seven. "Our greatest sympathies go out to the Spratt family during this time."