Officials from four agencies combing an area near Lee Airport in Edgewater last night found wreckage in a creek after receiving calls from residents who reported hearing a loud noise.

"It sounded like an engine fell out of the plane or else the plane hit the trees," said Paulette Lane, 57, who lives near the airport.

Officials from Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties, the Department of Natural Resources and the Coast Guard responded to a call from a neighbor at 5: 45 p.m. A spokesman for Anne Arundel emergency services said Coast Guard divers searched Beard Creek and found oil, fuel, fiberglass and other wreckage about 10 p.m.

Phillip Richbourg, a duty officer at Lee Airport, said no plane had contacted the airport around that time.

"As far as we know, there was no plane that was supposed to land here this evening," Richbourg said. "But this is a small airport and sometimes planes fly in here without telling us, but usually not after dark."

Pub Date: 11/22/98