Pilot found dead after plane disappears from radar

GLENVILLE, N.C. – Officials in North Carolina say a pilot has been found dead after a single-engine plane disappeared from radar during a flight from Tennessee to South Carolina.

News outlets report the Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad said searchers found the plane south of Whiteside Mountain on Friday. Officials say the pilot, 59-year-old Gary Lee Huttleston of Aiken, South Carolina, was dead. He was the only person aboard the plane.

Officials say Huttleston left Island Home Airport in Knoxville for Aiken, South Carolina, on Thursday evening and was last seen on radar over Jackson County.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports Federal Aviation Administration records state he had reported a loss of altitude. The Mooney M20C registered to Huttleston was manufactured in 1965.