Air search suspended for missing Petaluma-bound plane

The Civil Air Patrol sent three flights Sunday to search an area of the Sierra Nevada range.|

Authorities resumed their search Sunday morning for a Santa Rosa couple whose Petaluma-bound plane went missing on April 17 after taking off from Truckee.

Authorities Monday have stopped searching for a missing Santa Rosa couple presumed to have crashed while flying from Truckee to Petaluma.

A Civil Air Patrol spokesman Monday morning announced the nearly week-old search for Mark and Brenda Richard and their Socata TB-20 Trinidad had been suspended.

The couple flew out of the Truckee-Tahoe Airport on April 17, headed for Petaluma. Authorities believe the white-and-blue plane crashed into the snow somewhere in the Sierra Nevada range, making it difficult to find.

The search ended at 9 p.m. Sunday. It had been suspended Saturday due to weather and then resumed Sunday morning.

Civil Air Patrol volunteers from California and Nevada flew more than 60 hours over the area while others poured over aerial digital images, taken by the wing-mounted cameras, according to officials.

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