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Search crews scour Lake Erie for debris from missing jet

Posted at 4:38 PM, Jan 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-06 17:48:26-05

Crews deployed two vessels Friday morning to continue the week long search for the missing plane that crashed into Lake Erie with six passengers on board.

Search crews have been looking for the plane since, but have had no major discoveries. Winter weather has also hindered the search for the plane and its occupants, but Friday, with some help from calmer winds, search crews were back out on in the water.

One vessel, the Salvage Chief, headed to specific locations and is deploying divers who will utilize the underwater locator to move toward the signal, according to an update from the city of Cleveland.

"The closer they get, the stronger the signal will be. However, visibility for divers in Lake Erie is maybe 2 – 3 inches, which is what makes the signals so significant to the search," the news release said.  

The process to search and feel around the bottom of the lake will take time as crews attempt to move closer to the signal.

City officials denied reports made by local media that the plane's fuselage had been found. 

Cleveland Police Department crews were on foot and on horseback Thursday searching the shoreline to the east of the airport, looking for any sign of a missing Cessna Jet.

Seven days ago, John T Fleming and his family were headed home to Columbus. They weren’t in the air but a minute, before air traffic control lost contact, and the plane plummeted into Lake Erie.

Fleming, according to FAA documents, purchased his Cessna 525 in October, hinting, he’d only been flying it for a couple of months.

Crews were set back Wednesday, boats and divers couldn’t go out until the late afternoon because of high winds and choppy water on Lake Erie. Conditions persisted Thursday and required crews to remain on the shoreline to search. Shoreline searches Friday will be limited due to freezing temperatures. 

Help arrived Thursday in this search from the NTSB. On board, a boat used by the U.S. Geological Survey, was a special NTSB device called the "Muskie" used to find the beacon being emitted from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, something that may give investigators the answer they’ve been looking for as to how this plane, carrying six people, went down so quickly.

The device helped to narrow down the search site to a 125 by 325-foot search area for the recorder. 

The sonar device will be deployed with the dive team who will use the underwater locator along with the crews from the NTSB, Muskie, Underwater Marine Contractors, and the Cleveland Division of Fire. Officials say multiple resources are on standby to assist as needed.