Hopewell pilot missing in Florida
HOPEWELL — Longtime Hopewell resident and pilot Theodore (Teddy) Weiss has been flying planes for the last 50 years. On April 5, the 74-year-old aviator climbed into the cockpit of a two-seat, low-wing plane and departed from Dunnellon Airport in Florida, some 77 miles north of his winter residence in Zephyrhills. He has not been seen or heard from since.
On April 8, the airport manager reported Weiss missing, saying he had never arrived at his destination in Zephyrhills. The Marion County Sheriff's Office launched a massive, multi-agency investigation and search that scoured 3,000 to 4,000 acres of thick woods with big overlaying trees. From the air and on the ground, rescue personnel searched for the plane, described as a white experimental-type aircraft with a green stripe and "N229P" on the tail section.
Now, more than two weeks after the day he was last seen, Weiss is still missing. Radar last detected the aircraft somewhere over the Citrus County or Hernando County portion of the densely wooded 157,479-acre Withlacoochee State Forest in central western Florida.
“We have no updates at this point,” said Captain James Pogue, of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. “Civil Air Patrol reported an airplane, a flight path, and showed how it was flying low. Hernando and Citrus counties were handling the search efforts. They did quite an extensive search in their counties based on radar information.”
A search command post was set up at the Homosassa Fire Department to organize efforts by law enforcement officers and civilian volunteers from multiple agencies, including the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Marion County Fire and Rescue, Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, Hernando County Fire and Rescue, Hernando County Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, Sumter Sheriff’s Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, South Florida Water Management District, Sarasota K-9 Search and Rescue, and Hernando County State Emergency Management.
Weiss’ longtime friend and fellow pilot, Lloyd Wade of Canandaigua, watches the calendar and grows more anxious with each passing day.
"I have known him about 15 years,” said Wade. “We fly together — I've flown with him down in Florida. He’s very experienced and knows what he’s doing.”
Wade said his friend has been manning a cockpit for five decades, and has even built three or four aircraft on his own.
“I believe he owns a number of aircraft right now,” said Wade, “more than one in Florida, one in Chapin, and one in South Carolina.”
On April 12, after five days of intensive ground and air search, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office announced that the combined Unified Ground Search Teams had suspended their ground search effort.
“Air searches will continue and new ground search requests will be investigated as needed,” stated Denise Moloney in a formal press release. “Based upon the information received from the lead investigative agency and the radar data analyzed by the Civil Air Patrol and U.S. Air Force, we feel that we have exhausted our efforts and diligently searched our ground search area.”
Questions regarding the ongoing missing-person investigation may be referred to Captain James Pogue of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at (352) 368-3527, or (352) 266-7048, or jpogue@marionso.com.