The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the pilot of a plane that crashed Sunday in the Pacific Ocean, approximately two miles from Campus Point at UCSB.
The Coast Guard on Monday transferred its command to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office for a missing person investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office requested help from the dive program at Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau. SEB Dive arrived at the scene Monday with its Ocean Rescue boats and dive team members who can dive to depths of 300 feet, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Divers will be searching for a Cessna 182 Skylane and its sole occupant, Deborah Nicholson, 61, of the Lake Tahoe area.
The plane lost communications with the Santa Barbara Airport tower at 7:09 a.m. on Sunday. Deputies responded to the area of Goleta Beach with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a County Air Support helicopter, a Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol boat and a Coast Guard cutter and helicopter.
They found oil sheen and debris approximately two miles from the coast.
— Dave Mason
