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ALBUQUERQUE — Searchers tentatively identified today the pilot of a plane that crashed Saturday in the Sandia Mountains.

Using identification found at the crash site, State Police confirmed the pilot was Robert P. Iacono, 54, a neurosurgeon from Loma Linda, Calif. Iacono was on his way to Mississippi to visit family, said Lt. Rick Anglada, a State Police spokesman.

Iacono's remains were recovered from the mountain today and turned over to the Office of the Medical Investigator, a search leader said.

There were no passengers on board the plane, which crashed Saturday night about five miles northeast of the La Luz trailhead, said Wes Crownover, field coordinator for the rescue team.

The plane was a 1980 Beech Baron 58, registered to Memorial Park Engineering and Construction Company of Torrance, Calif., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said.

Search and rescue volunteers concluded their search at about 3 p.m. today.

Rescue volunteers were alerted to the crash Saturday night when the plane sent out an emergency location transmitter alert.

About 18 hours later, volunteers were able to pinpoint the crash site and directed a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter to fly over with a small crew, including a medic and a field investigator from the Office of the Medical Investigator, State Police said.

The rescuers descended to the crash site Sunday evening, but when they saw a bear nearby, they delayed the recovery mission until this morning, Crownover said.

State Police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Tingwall said a team of investigators worked with Game and Fish officers to keep bears at bay as they searched.

Team leaders said the wreckage spread over a quarter mile of the rocky area and cliffs. The area is about five miles northeast of the La Luz trailhead, Crownover said.

The plane, Crownover said, was about 500 feet from clearing the cliff it hit.

Satellites picked up the plane's emergency locater transmission Saturday night.

Crownover said it is protocol for the rescue team, which is activated and administered through State Police, to locate the beacon with ground crews.

He said the terrain made it difficult to pinpoint where the crash was because the radio transmissions bounced off cliffs and canyon walls.