An Antonov-26 plane and Mi-8 were dispatched and Black Sea naval and merchant shipping were ordered to join the hunt for the sole crew member, a "lieutenant-colonel” with more than 2,000 hours flying experience. “His task was to discover the above-water situation in areas of the Black Sea where several Nato ships were recently heading,” reported Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) newspaper citing Russian naval sources.