Missing Pilot Is Well-Known NY Philanthropist

Coast Guard crews off the coast of Nantucket are attempting to locate any sign of a Beechcraft Baron 55 flown by prominent New York Philanthropist George F. Baker III. According to the FAA, Baker's plane disappeared from radar late Thursday afternoon as it was on final approach to land.

Baker had spoken with air traffic controllers at Cape Cod's Otis AFB shortly before his plane disappeared, according to the New York Times. The Baron (file photo of type, below) disappeared as it flew at an altitude of 200 feet, according to the last radar images of the aircraft, and was just over two miles from the runway.

Light rain and clouds were observed in the area at 5 pm by the airport's ATIS, with winds up to 20 miles per hour.

A Coast Guard airplane, helicopter, and three boats canvassed the ocean Thursday night off Nobadeer Beach, which lies just south of Nantucket Memorial Airport, looking for any sign of Baker and his plane. Police officers who arrived on the scene shortly after the plane went missing reported seeing a marker light in the water, possible the Baron's tail beacon, but crews failed to locate the aircraft.

A buoy has been deployed to help crews calculate how far any wreckage may have drifted.

Baker was returning home after dropping his son off at New Jersey's Teterboro airport, according to his wife Sarah. It's a trip Baker has flown many times before.

"He's a very experienced pilot," Mrs. Baker said of her husband, whose great-grandfather, George F. Baker, helped found the First National Bank in New York City in 1863.

According to the Times, Baker is a retired investment banker who now has a hand in several charitable organizations, including the George F. Baker trust founded by his great-grandfather in 1942.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov