[A] pilot from Massachusetts is dead after his Cessna crashed Wednesday afternoon in Pittsford.
Norman L. Baker, 89, of Windsor, was alone aboard the four-person aircraft, according to Vermont State Police. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, and an autopsy is being performed.
A landowner came across the wreckage late Thursday morning while walking his property, state police said in a news release.
Authorities had mounted a massive air and land search after a report of a possible crash in the area Wednesday and the later news that Baker hadn’t arrived at his destination, Middlebury.
The pilot was headed there from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a trip he had made about 20 times in a lifetime of flying, according to police.
The search began after a caller contacted 911 about 5 p.m. Wednesday to report seeing a small aircraft flying low over Pittsford and hearing a loud noise as it continued out of sight.
Authorities determined there were no unaccounted aircraft in the area or any aircraft broadcasting a distress signal, police said. Officers canvassed the area but learned nothing further.
The Vermont Civil Air Patrol also searched from the air.
After Baker was reported overdue late Wednesday, the Vermont State Police Search and Rescue Team coordinated an all-night search with the help of local firefighters.
Thursday morning a Vermont Army National Guard helicopter and several planes from the Vermont Civil Air Patrol joined the effort, but saw no sign of the crash.
Baker’s plane, a 1966 Cessna, eventually was found with heavy damage in a wooded area near Route 7, police said. His body was near the craft.
The National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigator to help examine the wreckage, police said.
