The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been a topic of discussion among area pilots, Wiscasset Municipal Airport Manager Ervin Deck said.

Deck is a pilot who flies for recreation. He was an air traffic controller in the U.S. Navy for 29 years, serving all over the world.

He’s been following news reports for any breaks in the plane's whereabouts, still one of many unknowns several days into the search.

“I've never seen anything like that,” Deck said on March 13.

It's likely the relatively remote part of the world in which the plane vanished March 8 is making the job of locating it harder, he said. He doubted a jetliner in the northeastern United States could go missing for so long without a trace.

The pilots on the missing Boeing 777 were reported to be experienced, but Deck said that doesn't necessarily rule out pilot error. Pilots of all levels of experience can make mistakes, he said.

According to news reports on March 13, the plane may have continued flying for hours after its last communication. Deck said if that's the case, it leaves open the possibility the airliner didn't perish, but instead landed somewhere.

He had no criticism of the job searchers and others were doing in the international effort to find the plane.

“They’re doing all they can,” Deck said.