Missing pilot ID’d as 87-year-old Boca Raton man

BOCA RATON — As the search for a single-engine plane that went missing Friday off the coast of Boca Raton entered its third day, the apparent pilot of that plane has been identified and his photo distributed by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard identified the pilot as 87-yearold Brendan Spratt. Public records show Spratt lives in Boca Raton. Spratt’s family provided the Coast Guard with photos of the pilot and his plane, which they posted on their Twitter account Sunday.

“We have not found anything and we are still searching,” said Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a spokesman for the Coast Guard.

Hernandez said posting photos of Spratt could help someone identify him if they see him.

Spratt is a marathon runner and has been flying most of his life, according to his son, Brendan Sean Spratt.

In 1990, the South Florida Sun Sentinel profiled Spratt, 56 at the time, as he trained for the Western States 100-mile marathon in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. He got special permission to train by running up the Pompano Beach landfill. He went onto complete the marathon that summer in California; his first 100-miler.

In that profile, he was characterized as looking half his age, but for his white hair. At the time, he worked as an electronics engineer manager for Bendix at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Public records show he received a patent for three inventions related to aeronautics and airplane equipment.

The senior Spratt was visiting friends in Spruce Creek near Daytona Beach last week. He spoke to his son Tuesday evening and was scheduled to return home to Boca Raton around noon Wednesday.

FlightAware, an online flight-tracking service, shows no record of last week’s flight, saying the single-engine Lancair last flew in December of 2020. Brendan Sean Spratt said he didn’t know why that was the case. He also said he didn’t know his father’s recent travel plans.

After Brendan Spratt hadn’t returned home, his son tried calling him, but his phone went to voicemail. He went to his father’s house and he wasn’t there. He went to his father’s hangar at the Boca Raton Airport.

“His plane wasn’t there and his car was there, so he hadn’t returned,” Brendan Sean Spratt said.

On a handful of occasions in the past, Brendan Spratt was out of contact when he flew because of poor cell service, but never for more than a day or so, his son said.

The single-engine Lancair 320 plane had at least one person on board when it went missing Friday afternoon, say officials with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA lost detection of the aircraft shortly before 12:30 p.m. when it was about 17 miles southeast of Boca Raton. Search and rescue authorities were notified, and the Coast Guard has been searching for any sign of the plane all weekend.

Stations in Fort Lauderdale and Fort Pierce searched for the missing plane during the day, as well as air stations in Miami and Clearwater, Hernandez said.

Two Coast Guard cutters searched Friday night and resumed air searches at sunrise on Saturday and Sunday, he said.

Authorities ask anyone with information about the missing plane to call the Coast Guard District 7 command center at 305-4156800.

COURTESY The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday identified a missing pilot as Brendan Spratt, 87, of Boca Raton. Spratt and his 1991 Lancair 320 plane have been missing since Friday.