A Piper Commanche similar to this one has been missing since a Tuesday night flight in southwestern B.C. (Adam Hunt)

Airborne search teams plan to resume their attempt Thursday morning to locate a small plane carrying four people that went missing en route to Victoria from Penticton on Tuesday night.

The search for the privately owned Piper PA24 plane has focused on the 150-kilometre area between Penticton and Princeton, officials said Wednesday.

Maj. James Pierotti of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the single-engine plane is equipped with an emergency locator device, but searchers have yet to pick up a signal.

The plane left Penticton at about 5:10 p.m. PT, but no communication from the aircraft was received after take-off and the plane did not appear on radar in the Vancouver area as expected.

Vancouver is on the flight path between Victoria and Penticton.

The Kamloops Flight Information Centre reported the aircraft missing at 9:44 p.m., and officials with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Center in Victoria immediately began a search of the flight path.

A CC 115 Buffalo search-and-rescue aircraft and CH149 Cormorant rescue helicopter from 19 Wing at Canadian Forces Base Comox conducted the search overnight Tuesday. It was expanded with a second helicopter on Wednesday morning.

Members of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, a Canada-wide volunteer association, are also assisting with the search, officials said.

The names of the missing pilot and passengers have not been released.

Piper PA24 Comanches are four-seat, low-wing metal aircraft produced from 1957 to 1972.

With files from The Canadian Press