GATLINBURG, Tenn. – A search is underway for a single-engine plane with a man, woman and 8-year-old boy from Bradford County, Fla., believed to be on board that disappeared Monday afternoon in the mountains of eastern Tennessee.
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According to the Florida Aviation Administration, a Cessna 182 aircraft was expected at Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, and when family members notified the FAA that the flight never arrived, an alert notice was issued at 7:35 p.m. A reconnaissance flight with the Civil Air Patrol focused on an area in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, about 15 miles south-southeast of the airport, but nothing was found.
The National Park Service said Tuesday that a signal from the plane's emergency locator transmitter led ground searchers to the area of Bearpen Hollow Branch, but no wreckage has been located.
Because no flight plan was filed, authorities didn't know which airport the plane left from Monday morning, but News4Jax learned from family members that David Starling, Kim Smith and Hunter Starling took off from the Lawtey area about noon Monday.
Family said David Starling is a pilot who served in the Air Force who went into the logging business. News4Jax found a record of a Cessna 182H owned by a Joseph Starling in Lawtey.
Family members said the couple goes to Tennessee every year after Christmas. According to a Facebook post, they were planning on this trip to help victims of the recent fires in the Gatlinburg area.
Hunter attends third grade at Northside Christian Academy in Starke.
Members of the Starling family did not want to give an interview, but said they were concerned about David and his son. Samantha Hodges said her cousin, Kim Smith, spoke to her family moments before the flight went missing.
"They were about 13 minutes away from landing. That was the last time they spoke to her, and she hasn't been heard from him since," Hodges said.
Kim Smith’s family is holding a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, 14105 NW 298th Street in High Springs. The public is welcome to attend.