SAN DIEGO — Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection assets are searching for three people after a report of a downed aircraft approximately one-mile southwest of San Clemente Island, Wednesday morning.
Watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center in San Diego received the initial report of a downed aircraft at 7:53 a.m., from the Fleet Area Control and Surveillance Facility on San Clemente Island, reporting an aircraft emergency aboard a Phoenix Lear jet with three people on board. The FACSFAC reported that the aircraft didn’t make it back to the runway.
A U.S. Navy Phoenix Lear jet was in the area and began immediately searching the debris field. A Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft and USS SAN DIEGO diverted after hearing the emergency broadcast and began searching the area as well.
An MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew from Coast Guard Sector San Diego was launched and immediately vectored toward the debris field.
Search efforts are ongoing.