Coast Guard searching for missing Navy plane

The U.S. Coast Guard mobilized a search Wednesday for the crew of a Navy T-34 training aircraft.

Coast Guard officials said an air traffic controller at Corpus Christi's naval air station lost contact with the plane's two-member crew about 3:20 p.m. The single-engine trainer's last known location was near San Jose Island, east of Rockport and 2 miles off shore, said Nick Leiter, a Coast Guard spokesman.

The Coast Guard air station in Corpus Christi dispatched a helicopter and jet to perform an aerial search. Coast Guard boats also have been sent to the area from Port Aransas and Port O'Connor.

Naval Air Station Corpus Christi spokesman Bob Torres said the helicopter and jet were searching an area from Rockport to Refugio.

"If we don't find the aircraft has landed somewhere, we'll continue searching throughout the night," Leiter told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Brett Dawson, a spokesman for the Chief of Naval Air Training, said the pilots have hand-held radios for emergencies but the base had not heard from them since the plane lost communication.

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Information from: Corpus Christi Caller-Times, http://www.caller.com