the la barbara jets plane took off just before daylight from the city of merida along taxi to simon bolivar international airport over the independent city of caracas . noel marquez , director of caracas ' s incident managed agency in merida , said the pilot has inability to call controlled tower . civil defense chief general antonio mendez told reporters that it is unknown whether or not the plane crashed or is simply missing .
A plane with 46 passengers has not contacted control towers.