Pilot ID'd After Plane Crash Near Moss Beach: Reports

HALF MOON BAY, CA — The pilot of a plane that crashed off the Peninsula coast on Sunday has been identified, according to multiple news outlets.

Citing sources Tuesday, KTVU and NBC Bay Area named the pilot of the aircraft as Lochie Ferrier of Oakland. According to KTVU, authorities believe two people were on board the aircraft when it crashed Sunday evening near Half Moon Bay.

On Monday, investigators said they believed a woman whose body was found by a fishing boat had died in the crash.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, crews had been searching for signs of survivors after the small, single-engine plane crashed into the ocean shortly after taking off from the Half Moon Bay Aiport around 7 p.m. Sunday.

Within 15 minutes, reports started to come in of an aircraft missing in the area of Moss Beach shortly after witnesses described seeing and hearing a sputtering aircraft. The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter and boat crews to assist with search efforts Sunday evening, along with a fixed-wing plane from the California Highway Patrol. Search teams located debris in the water near the coastline, which appeared consistent with a plane crash, officials said.

More than two dozen search and rescue volunteers helped continue efforts Monday before the search was suspended. In a news release, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said a commercial fishing boat discovered a woman's body in the water.

Officials said the woman's identity was still being determined, but investigators believed she was linked to the plane crash due to where her body was found. The sheriff's office will work with the National Transportation Safety Board and the San Mateo County Coroner's Office to investigate the crash.

Bay City News and Patch staffers Karen Wall and Peggy Spellman Hoey contributed to this report.