Area Now Includes 1800 Square Miles Near Globe, AZ

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 12.23.06 08:00 EST: An SR-22 missing since Monday remains the focus of a search underway since Tuesday in southwest Arizona. Searchers expanded the area under scrutiny yesterday to an area of about 1,800 miles centered around the town of Globe, AZ.

The plane was believed to be piloted by Cynthia Anderson, a nurse working on the Navajo Reservation in the northwestern region of the state.

The Arizona Division of Emergency Management (ADEM) has asked the state's National Guard to lend a hand with its Black Hawk helicopters.

The Civil Air Patrol has been on the scene with fixed-wing search aircraft and crews since Tuesday. They have concentrated on a smaller area around Globe where the aircraft last appeared on radar.

According to authorities, Anderson departed Winslow, AZ enroute to Henderson, NV near Las Vegas. An FAA official told local news stations that Anderson departed in the midst of a storm. It is believed she headed south to circumnavigate the bad weather.

ADEM spokeswoman Judy Kioski told the Associated Press, "If she was leaving from Winslow to go to Las Vegas, she would've headed a different direction."

Earlier in the week searchers zeroed in on an emergency locator beacon picked up in southern Nevada thought to be transmitting from Anderson's aircraft. The beacon turned out to be a signal from a boat instead.

Weather in the region has been good over the past few days with partly cloudy conditions, light winds and patchy early morning fog in some areas. Temperatures during the day have risen to the mid-forties with lows in the teens.

FMI: www.faa.gov