Search suspended for missing local native, a Navy pilot

The U.S Coast Guard has suspended its search for a Navy pilot from Mitchell who is missing in Louisiana after a weekend crash.

The Web site CNN.com on Monday identified the pilot as Lt. Clinton Wermers, 33, of Mitchell. Wermers’ grandmother, Joyce Tuschen of Mitchell, confirmed that Wermers is still missing, calling the situation “a tragedy.”

Tuschen learned of the crash Sunday morning.

“The only thing that I know is that volunteers and the Coast Guard are doing ground searching. ... It’s all been a blur. It was very quick and unimaginable,” she told The Daily Republic Monday evening.

Tuschen said Wermers’ father Ron, brother Kyle and other family members are in Louisiana.

CNN.com reported that Wermers, a Navy instructor pilot, crashed into Lake Pontchartrain, just outside of New Orleans, during a routine training mission Saturday evening. The student pilot on the plane was rescued about two hours after the crash and taken to a hospital for mild hypothermia and moderate injuries.

According to The Associated Press, several agencies aided two Coast Guard boats and a Coast Guard helicopter in the search. Since the weekend, the agencies have searched 392 nautical square miles of the lake.

The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated both pilots were clinging to the aircraft before it sank, the AP reported.

The CNN report said air traffic controllers at Lakefront Airport in New Orleans notified the Coast Guard at 6:40 p.m. Saturday that a U.S. Navy T-34 training plane was no longer visible on radar. The plane had been approaching the airport during a routine nighttime instrument training mission.

Lt. Wermers resided in Pensacola, Fla., with his wife and two daughters, Tuschen said. He was due to be transferred to San Diego.

His mother, Sue Wermers, died of cancer five years ago. She was a nurse at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital.

“It’s a sad day,” Tuschen said. “It was a tragedy. He was too young.”

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