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Friends, Family Begin to Grieve for Missing Pilot, Passenger

May 13, 2006 – Friends and family of Victor Tuitt and Johnny Gumbs – the pilot and passenger missing since their plane fell off the radar Wednesday night while en route from St. Thomas to St. Croix – were coming to terms with the news that the U.S. Coast Guard had suspended its search after finding no trace of survivors since.
But at least one person who knew Tuitt said she took comfort in knowing that he probably died doing what he loved.
"The airplane was one of his dreams," Naomi Gumbs said Saturday. "He loved flying."
Gumbs said that she had been "hoping and praying" that the two would be found. She knew Tuitt as a pastor and an elder in the Word of Life Ministry Church in Work and Rest and Gumbs because she is married to his relative.
"It's sad that they're both gone," she said, adding that Tuitt always encouraged her as a former member of the church.
"He and his wife were always there for anybody," she said. "Their doors have always been open for people. And, no matter what position you're in in life, Pastor Tuitt never looked down at you. I know I will miss him very much."
Wilfredo Tuitt, a distant relative of Victor Tuitt, said he was shocked when he turned on his television to watch the news and heard the two were in the plane that was missing.
Tuitt said that Victor Tuitt loved to ride horses as a young man growing up on St. Croix. He later moved to New York and became a pastor. He said that his cousin had recently purchased the plane.
"After I heard the news I was so sad. I said ‘No! I can't believe that,'" he recalled Saturday.
Delegate Donna Christensen said she also knew both men.
"Rev. Victor Tuitt was my elementary school classmate at St. Mary's and also a jockey when my dad was in horseracing. Just recently he presided over the wedding of mutual friends. John Gumbs is a neighbor and devoted husband of a friend and former patient."
Christensen said that she last saw Gumbs and his wife at the St. Thomas Carnival in April.
The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Friday for the twin-engine plane that Tuitt, 62, was piloting when he and his passenger, 55-year-old Gumbs, went missing. The search was ended at 6:45 p.m. Friday after the Coast Guard had logged 36 search hours and found no sign of a crash site or survivors.
The search was launched Wednesday night shortly after air traffic controllers in San Juan reported losing contact with the Piper Aztec plane. The Coast Guard immediately began a sea and air search using several helicopters and its 100-foot Cutter, Sapelo.
The plane was about 18 nautical miles southeast of St. Thomas airport when contact was lost. The Coast Guard was notified at 7:42 p.m. Officials have said that Victor Tuitt contacted the air traffic control tower just after takeoff at 7:06 from the Cyril E. King Airport to report being disoriented. While he was talking with air traffic controllers, the plane fell off their radar.

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