Erratic plane over Gulf tracked by U.S. government crashes

An unresponsive twin engine plane that was circling over the Gulf of Mexico for hours  crashed, reports CNN.

The Air Force was tracking a Cessna 421 that was running out of fuel.  The plane took off from Slidell, La.  and was on its way to Sarasota, Fla. It unexpectedly began flying in circles at 28,000 feet  about 200 miles south of Panama City. The FAA lost contact with the pilot at 9 a.m E.T.

The plane went down at about 12:10 p.m. ET in the Central Gulf, according to the Coast Guard. Only the pilot is thought to be on board.

Two fighter jets made visual contact with the plane and reported that the craft's windows were fogged over.

Photo caption: A screen grab from FlightAware.com shows where the plane went wayward over the Gulf of Mexico.