(CNN) -- Joe Kistel and Penny Malphrus have never met. But they are connected in a way that may help provide each of them with an answer to the same question: Could strewn pieces of metal recently found partially buried in the sandy ocean floor 20 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, be what's left of a plane that disappeared without a trace 16 years ago? The story begins on February 17, 1996. That's the day Penny's father, Stewart Dunbar, an experienced pilot, took off on a short solo flight from Swainsboro, Georgia, to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Dunbar was returning home after going to show his twin engine propeller-driven Piper Aerostar to a prospective buyer who, as it so happened, failed to show up for the scheduled appointment.
@highlight
NEW: Team cancels plans to dive this weekend due to bad weather
@highlight
Penny Malphrus has wondered for 16 years what became of her father
@highlight
He disappeared over the ocean after sending a distress call from his small plane
@highlight
Diver Joe Kistel found sea-floor debris in an area where the plane might have fallen
Though never certain, the family believes @placeholder, realizing his predicament and unable to control the light transport aircraft, wanted to steer the plane away from land and avoid hurting anyone.