LEECHBURG (KDKA) — A full 24 hours after a small single-engine plane was reported missing en route from West Virginia to Johnstown, there’s still no sign of the aircraft.

Onboard the aircraft was 52-year-old Chas Armitage, Jr., the president of Uncle Charley’s Sausage Company in Parks Township.

Another passenger on the Piper airplane was Laura Stettmier, co-owner of the Addison House Restaurant and Lounge in Leechburg.

The plane was being piloted by 52-year old Michael Garrone, of Allegheny Township.

Charles Armitage, Sr., told KDKA-TV his son and the others were returning from a weekend vacation in North Carolina when it vanished.

News of the missing plane has hit the Leechburg area like a thunderbolt.

“I was shocked,” Alexander Micklow, owner of the Leechburg Pharmacy, told KDKA-TV.

“Laura was in here on Friday, I believe it was – maybe Thursday, getting ready for the trip, telling me how excited she was, her friend has a private plane and they’re flying to North Carolina or some beach somewhere.”

Leechburg pizza shop owner Keith Fetterman said he too was stunned by the news, adding that he just spoke with Chas last week about buying sausage for his pizza shop.

“We are all praying for them,” Fetterman said.

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
More Armstrong County News