Search Turns Up Missing Aircraft, Pilot

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A tour helicopter aiding in the search for an airplane missing on a flight from Georgia has discovered wreckage on a North Carolina mountainside.

The North Carolina Wing of the Civil Air Patrol said Sunday that friends of the missing pilot, identified as Bill Allison, spotted the wreckage on a peak in Clay County near the Georgia border. They confirmed that the wreckage was that of the missing plane.

CAP spokesman Don Penven said Clay County emergency management personnel were contacted and a ground team was dispatched to the remote crash site, which took several hours to reach.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Cessna left Cleveland, Ga., for the Andrews-Murphy Airport in western North Carolina about 10 a.m. Friday. Allison's wife reported him missing.