Officials have called off the search for a California man now presumed lost after he apparently lost consciousness in his Lancair Evolution and crashed in the Pacific, about 460 miles west of San Francisco. Troy Johnson, 39, was on a flight from Phoenix to Hesperia, California, with what might have been a fuel stop in Palmdale on Thursday evening. After taking off for Hesperia, 60 miles away, the FAA reported the pressurized single climbed to 25,000 feet on an IFR flight plan. Johnson failed to respond to radio calls and at 7:40 p.m. controllers alerted the Coast Guard. The Air Force was also brought in and two F-16s intercepted the Evolution. The fighter pilots reported the pilot of the Lancair was “slumped over the controls,” according to theAssociated Press.
The aircraft continued on autopilot and crashed in the ocean. Debris was spotted but a surface and air search by the Coast Guard did not locate the pilot. Johnson was not officially identified by authorities but social media comments by friends and his ex-wife described him as a devoted family man and avid pilot. The Victorville Daily Press said his ex-wife told them Johnson was a UAV pilot with a top-secret security clearance.
