Pilot of missing plane identified as Ponca City High School graduate
The Associated Press - January 4, 2018 1:37 pm
A dog rescue group says the pilot of a small plane that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico was flying to Central Texas to collect a disabled dog and deliver it to a foster home in Oklahoma.
Coast Guard spokeswoman Lexie Preston on Thursday identified the pilot as Dr. Bill Kinsinger.
His uncle, Ponca City resident Don Kinsinger, confirmed the pilot’s identity.
Dr. Kinsinger is the son of former Ponca City dentist, the late Dr. Ray Kinsinger, and Ann Kinsinger-Trotter, who still lives in Ponca City. The pilot was a 1980 graduate of Ponca City High School.
The executive director of the Oklahoma Medical Board, Lyle Kelsey, says Kinsinger serves on the board and lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. Kinsinger is an anesthesiologist.
Monica Marshall coordinates flights for the nonprofit group Pilots N Paws and says she was tracking Kinsinger’s plane Wednesday when radar showed it veered off course by hundreds of miles.
Marshall says she has been unable to reach him by text and phone.
She says Kinsinger didn’t collect the disabled dog in suburban Austin, Texas.
