Radio Contact Lost An Hour After Takeoff From Fuel Stop

The search continues for a pilot from Wichita, KS, who disappeared August 17 after a fuel stop in the Ghanaian capital of Accra in West Africa.

Air traffic control lost radio contact with Lori Love about an hour after she took off from Accra's Kotoka International Airport according to the Wichita Eagle. Love was flying a 1997 A36 Beech Bonanza for an aircraft delivery company -- Tampa, FL-based Wings of Eagles, formerly located in Wichita.

According to company president Steve Hall, Love was traveling to Windhoek, Namibia for refueling before heading to Cape Town then to Stellendosch, South Africa, her final destination.

"She's one of the best stick-and-rudder pilots I've ever seen," Hall said of the Wichita native. "She's just a crackerjack pilot."

Though the search continues, there has been no signal from the Bonanza's emergency location transmitter or from the personal emergency locator she carried with her, Hall said.

"Something catastrophic must have happened for her not to let off her location device," Hall told Reuters. "My own gut instinct says she has gone down over the water."

Ghanaian officials said authorities in Angola and the Gulf of Guinea archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe were assisting in the search.

FMI: www.weflyplanes.com, www.gcaa.com.gh/kotoka_airport.htm