Florida VFR midair - (N118TP) PA-44 and Cessna 172 . . .

The wreckage of two small planes was found early Sunday morning in the Everglades near U.S. 27, officials said.

Both planes had been reported missing Saturday.

‘‘The owners of the air craft reported them missing sometime yesterday,’’ said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. ``Of course we gathered our radar data to help search and rescue efforts and the air craft was located this morning.‘’

One plane, a Piper 44, was believed to have one person on board, Bergen said.

That plane took off from Fort Lauderdale at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and was going to a practice area near Opa-locka.

The second plane, going to the same area, apparently had two people on board and had taken off from North Perry Airport.

Both planes were flying under visual flight rules, a common practice for that area, Bergen said.

The last reported position of the planes was about eight miles west of Fort Lauderdale.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene and the FAA was assisting in the investigation.

I was in Sheltair this morning about 1am, and had to wait to pay my landing fee cause the front desk lady was on the phone with the FAA asking if the piper was on the ramp in KFLL.

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The Piper PA-44-180 Seminole N118TP is registered to AIRLINE TRANSPORT PROFESSIONALS CORP OF USA