Search called off for lost plane with Santa Rosa couple aboard

The search for a Sonoma County couple and their single-engine plane that went missing in the Sierra Nevada last Monday was called off after rescuers fruitlessly combed wooded and snowy terrain for six days, officials said Monday. Civil Air Patrol officials speculated that snowy weather may have created dangerous flying conditions for the lost plane. The Civil Air Patrol, with the help of the California National Guard, California Highway Patrol and Sierra County Sheriff’s Office, began searching a vast area around Truckee (Nevada County) for the plane shortly after midnight Tuesday. Fifteen Civil Air Patrol planes flew the area, and volunteers reviewed thousands of images captured by cameras mounted on the wings of the planes, but the missing craft was not found.