Coast Guard, Mexican navy search for missing pilot, had ties to Cape Girardeau

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican navy searched the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday for a Saint Francis Medical Center-affiliated trauma surgeon whose plane was reported missing.

Dr. Steven Schumacher, 63, was flying alone and probably crashed, the Coast Guard said.

Schumacher was flying his twin-engine Piper Aztec. He flew out of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport about 7 p.m. Wednesday, airport manager Bruce Loy said.

He fueled up his plane before taking off, Loy said.

Steven Schumacher

Schumacher was scheduled to land at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Gonzales, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard news release said Schumacher’s family reported him overdue two hours later.

Petty Officer Sydney Phoenix said an online flight tracker showed the plane’s last location was some 440 miles past Louisiana’s coast, about 50 feet above the water at 11:40 p.m. Wednesday.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said Schumacher never checked onto the Houston air traffic control center’s frequency and didn’t respond to attempts to contact him.

A U.S. Coast Guard plane and a Mexican navy vessel were engaged in the search for the missing plane and pilot.

Schumacher was a surgeon with Cape Trauma Specialists, a Saint Francis Medical Center partner, Maryann Reese, president and CEO of Saint Francis Healthcare System, said in an emailed statement Thursday to the Southeast Missourian.

According to the statement, “Saint Francis Medical Center is keeping the Schumacher family in our thoughts and prayers as the search continues for him and his private aircraft.”

The Federal Aviation Administration’s website indicates Schumacher was certified as a private pilot in January 2016 and was qualified to pilot single- and multi-engine aircraft. According to FAA records, the most recent airworthiness certificate for Schumacher’s aircraft, manufactured in 1977, was issued in September 2017.

Piper Aztec aircraft similar to the one Schumacher was flying were built between 1952 and 1981 and can carry a pilot and up to five passengers. They have a cruising speed of 172 mph and a range of about 1,500 miles.

According to online information, Schumacher graduated from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1990.

He did his residency at the LSU Medical Center Charity Hospital before completing a fellowship at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Surgical Critical Care at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2008.

Loy, the airport manager, said Schumacher leased hangar space from the city and listed a billing address of St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Associated Press provided information for this story.