Search Continues for Plane That Disappeared With 5 Aboard

COSTA MESA — More than 70 Civil Air Patrol planes from two states continued searching a 20,000-square-mile area Saturday for a twin-engine Cessna with five people aboard that disappeared on a flight from Bullhead City, Ariz., to Fullerton.

Twenty aircraft joined the hunt Saturday, two days after the plane was reported missing. Civil Air Patrol officials said a major storm that hit Bullhead City with snow, rain and sleet could have complicated flying conditions for pilot Richard Niemela, 37, of La Mirada. Niemela was returning from a pleasure trip with four Orange County residents aboard.

Authorities called off the search at dusk after covering a 100-mile swath from Fullerton to Arizona.

“Everything has been covered,” said Nancy Grady, a spokeswoman for the patrol. “We will be going over the same area tomorrow.”

Niemela and his passengers apparently took off from Bullhead City shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday for what was supposed to have been a 90-minute flight to Fullerton.

The passengers have been identified as Kathy Bird, 33, and her husband, Jeff Bird, 32, of Fullerton; Jeff’s brother, Bradley Bird, 33, of Placentia, and Natalie Erickson, 19, of Placentia.