From staff reports

A Vicksburg woman whose crop-duster father has been missing since Friday, today asked for help in locating the craft.

Ashley Hudson Smith said her father, 48-year-old Monty Hudson of Jonesboro, Ark., was last seen Friday as he and a companion crop-dusting plane were headed to Cleveland, Miss., from Greenville, Ala.

Civil Air Patrol Maj. Patricia Mitcham of Huntsville said today the search for the yellow aircraft, with blue markings, was suspended because of bad weather.

The second plane crash-landed near Meridian, Smith said, and its pilot was OK. The two had been dusting timber and were headed home, she said.

Smith said she was asking for hunters and others outdoors in areas north of Vicksburg from Starkville east to Cleveland to report any unusual sounds they may have heard Friday or Saturday.

“It’s been like finding a needle in a haystack,” Smith said this morning. “They’ve kind of got an idea he went down around Meridian but they don’t know.

The aircraft was last reported near Livingston, Ala. Mitcham said anyone with information about the plane can contact the air patrol at 334-467-0897 in Alabama or 601-529-1580 in Mississippi.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.