The city of Cleveland, working with the U.S. Coast Guard and NTSB, is continuing its week-long search for the wreckage of a Cessna Citation CJ4 that is believed to have crashed into Lake Erie, as officials examine 120 items of debris that have been found. The aircraft, N614SB, departed from Runway 24R at Cleveland-Burke Lakefront Airport late at night on December 29, made a right turn over Lake Erie, according to the FAA preliminary report. The aircraft reached 3,000 feet before entering a "high speed" descent.
The Coast Guard estimates the aircraft disappeared over Lake Erie about two miles offshore, and the last radar target was while it was at 1,300 feet. N614SB is believed to have been destroyed, and the pilot and five passengers aboard, reported as the family of a beverage executive (the pilot) and two neighbors, are presumed dead. The aircraft was on a Part 91 flight returning to its home base, Ohio State University Airport in Columbus.
The search-and-rescue effort has involved multiple Coast Guard ships, a city helicopter and a Royal Canadian Air Force C-130 from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Trenton, Ontario. In addition, the NTSB—which has an investigator on site—has sent an audio receiver to pick up pings from the cockpit voice recorder. The FAA is participating, and the FBI has furnished data. In addition to using the NTSB equipment, the team has been using 3D modeling to pinpoint likely areas of wreckage.
While the aircraft itself has not yet been located, the city said that 120 pieces of debris have been recovered so far “and many are consistent with what would be found on a Cessna 525 Citation.” The city, however, is not providing detail about the debris found, saying only that the items are part of an active investigation. City officials added that the Cleveland division of Police is leading the investigation, but stressed that it is still a search-and-recovery operation.