53 years ago, a small jet vanished in Vermont. It was finally found: Maps
A small passenger jet that disappeared shortly after takeoff in Vermont in 1971 has been found at the bottom of Lake Champlain, searchers say.
The 10-seat Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander, registry number N400CP, was carrying five passengers when it left the Burlington airport and vanished from radar screens en route to Providence, Rhode Island, on Jan. 27, 1971. Initial searches were halted when the lake froze over.
Beginning in 2022, search teams used a remotely operated vehicle to conduct sonar surveys across the lake floor. The scans eventually revealed a debris field west of Juniper Island, about 3 miles west of Burlington.
Photographs showed a sunken plane fuselage with the same paint scheme as the missing aircraft.
Where the Jet Commander was headed
“I'm just thrilled that we discovered it, and I'm really happy for the family members that are still around,” Garry Kozak, undersea sonar expert who led the search, told USA TODAY.
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Where was the missing was jet found
The cause of the crash is still unknown. The National Transportation Safety Board listed it as undetermined at the time but will examine the newly found debris, officials told USA TODAY.
The aircraft was carrying two crew members and three staffers from Cousins Properties, a real estate company based in Atlanta.
The aircraft left the Burlington airport at about 8 p.m. on a snowy evening. Flight controllers lost contact with the plane as it flew over the lake. No mayday or other emergency signal was detected.
How the jet was found
Kozak and his team used a remote controlled vehicle (ROV), which was provided by Sonar Search and Recovery, a sonar search and recovery service, according to Aviation International News.
Using the EdgeTech 4125-P side scan sonar system, the area west of Juniper Island was scanned in mid-May. The ROV captured real-time video and sent it to a processor located on a boat on the surface. The images appeared to show a broken plane fuselage with the missing jet's number N400CP.
Below the surface
When searching for wreckage, special equipment like the ROV becomes necessary.
Profile of the missing jet
Authorities searched in the years after the plane disappeared − more than 17 attempts between 1971 and 2014.
Some pieces were found on the lake bottom near Shelburne Point in the spring of 1972. A follow-up search found nothing.
Kozak used results of earlier lake bed scans to pinpoint possible locations of the jet. A search on May 19 found the debris field.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY; Brian Linder, Burlington Free Press
Source: USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Reuters; Aviation International News