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Rescue workers have not found the pilot of a six-seater plane that crashed Sunday night in the Florida Panhandle, authorities said.

It's unclear if there were others onboard. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to begin an investigation Monday.

The pilot contacted air traffic controllers and told them the plane's windshield had imploded and that he was bleeding profusely, said Sgt. Scott Haines of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.

That call came in when the Piper PA-46 was about 35 miles southwest of Birmingham, Alabama. Controllers tried to tell the pilot to divert the flight to Pell City, Alabama, but he did not respond. The plane appeared to have been put on autopilot around 2,000 feet, Haines said.

Military jets were sent to intercept the plane. They fired flares and noticed that the plane had gone down, at about 9:15 CT near Blackwater River in East Milton, Florida. The aircraft was lying upside down, its door open and the cockpit empty, said Haines.

A deputy on the scene said that the windshield was broken, he added.

The plane had left Anderson, Indiana, and was headed to Destin, Florida.

Helicopters, planes, boats, and dogs and rescue crews were involved in searching the area and will head back out Monda