The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a Maui man flying in a privately owned light airplane that disappeared from radar while traveling from Maui to Molokai on Saturday night.
A debris field that appeared to be from the aircraft was spotted about two miles north of Maui.
The determination to suspend the search for Jose Krall was made at3 p.m. Monday, pending further information.
Krall is believed to have been alone in the aircraft.
Krall’s wife said her husband was talking to the air tower at Kahului Airport when the small plane he was piloting went off the radar and officials lost sight of the aircraft.
Claire Fujii-Krall told the Maui News that her husband was trying to turn around and return to Maui. "The conditions were really bad," she said. "The haze was too dense. He wanted to turn around."
The Federal Aviation Administration said the airplane had departed from Kahului Airport en route to Molokai when it disappeared.
The Coast Guard rescue center in Honolulu received a report at 7 p.m. Saturday that the airplane disappeared from radar about 2.5 miles north of Maui’s North Shore.
A Coast Guard helicopter and cutter from Honolulu, along with boat crews from Coast Guard Station Maui, searched areas between Maui and Molokai. An HC-130 Hercules airplane crew searched Saturday night using an infrared sensor.
Maui fire and police officials conducted land searches without locating any signs of aircraft debris.
The Cessna 172S is a four-seat, single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft.
Krall, owner of the popular Maui Bake Shop & Deli in Wailuku, was born in Nimes, France, south of Paris.
