Air, ground searches hunt for missing plane near Salida, CO

SALIDA, Colo. (AP) _ Search crews on the ground and in the air were looking for a small plane on Saturday that failed to arrive as scheduled on a flight from Hollis, Okla. <br><br>Only the pilot was believed

Sunday, March 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALIDA, Colo. (AP) _ Search crews on the ground and in the air were looking for a small plane on Saturday that failed to arrive as scheduled on a flight from Hollis, Okla.

Only the pilot was believed to be aboard the Cessna 210, which took off Saturday morning and was expected in Salida about 2 1/2 hours later, a Chaffee County sheriff's dispatcher said.

The pilot was not identified.

Hollis, in southeastern Oklahoma, is about 425 miles from Salida, in south-central Colorado.

The dispatcher, who did not want to be identified by name, said searchers had picked up a signal from an aircraft emergency locator transmitter in the vicinity of Methodist Mountain on the southern edge of town.

It was unclear whether a winter storm moving across Colorado Saturday morning might have affected the plane.

Ground teams from the Chaffee and Fremont county sheriff's departments and the Civil Air Patrol were participating in the search.