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'I don't have closure': Plane missing in Lake Champlain torments victims' families 50 years later
The wreckage of a plane that vanished 50 years ago this winter with five people on board has never been found
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Updated: 10:08 AM EST Feb 16, 2021
'I don't have closure': Plane missing in Lake Champlain torments victims' families 50 years later
The wreckage of a plane that vanished 50 years ago this winter with five people on board has never been found
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Updated: 10:08 AM EST Feb 16, 2021
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QUARANTINE GUIDANCE. IN CHAMPLAIN CONNECTION TONIGHT. A MYSTERY IN THE SKIES OVER VERMONT HAS LEFT FIVE FAMILIES DESPERATE FOR THOSE FOLKS LOST LOVED ONES IN A PLANE CRASH INTO LAKE CHAMPLAIN. THE LAKE IS 12 MILES WIDE AT ITS WIDEST POINT, AND 400 FEET DEEP AT ITS DEEPEST POINT- SO IT IS A PRETTY BIG HAYSTACK TO GO LOOKING FOR A NEEDLE IN. BUT JACK THURSTON TELLS US THE FAMILIES ARE NOT GIVING UP HOPE... IN THIS MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY YEAR OF THE CRASH. The sun has set over Lake Champlain more than 18,250 times throughout the fifty years ((FRANK WILDER / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: :57: I wonder - is he out there?)) this water has been haunting Frank ((FRANK WILDER / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 1:33: with my father, I don't know where he is, sometimes, you know, I wonder did he really die?)) His dad's remains are somewhere in the lake - so is wreckage from a crashed plane that's never been found. After sunset on the fiftieth anniversary of that doomed flight, Frank set up fifty tiny lights on the lakeshore in Shelburne Vermont ((bell chimes)) And rang a bell five times For five travelers ((Bell chimes)) Who have never gotten proper funerals. ((FRANK WILDER / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 4:52: I don't have closure.)) ((Bell chimes)) ((FRANK WILDER / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 4:54: I don't think any of the families have closure. Until we actually find the plane, we won't have closure.)) ((Bell chimes)) It was the evening of January 27th, 1971. Just before a nasty snowstorm. The real estate developers from Atlanta had wrapped up their time in Vermont scoping out a possible project in Burlington. Their private, twin- engine corporate jet vanished shortly after takeoff, with no known distress signal sent. ((BRIAN LINDNER / Aviation Historian: 8:34: it's exceptionally unusual for Vermont.)) Brian Lindner is a historian who studies aviation disasters. He says early investigators did find some debris washed up following the plane's disappearance - like an oxygen tank. Fast forward to 2014 - and renewed efforts using sonar and even underwater robots - still no breakthroughs... despite curious shapes spotted on the lake bottom. ((BRIAN LINDNER / Aviation Historian: 14:06: so much of it looks like an airplane or airplane parts, but once we send a camera down, we find out it's logs or rocks or something like that.)) Another search is tentatively set for this summer. ((BRIAN LINDNER / Aviation Historian: 1:25: there are still pockets that haven't really been searched or re- searched.)) ((BARBARA NIKITAS / Lost Uncle in Mystery Plane Crash: 7:08: 50 years is a long time, but some days it seems like yesterday.)) Barbara Nikitas's uncle, who was also her godfather, piloted the plane. ((BARBARA NIKITAS / Lost Uncle in Mystery Plane Crash: 6:37: I still hear my grandmother wailing in pain when she heard her son was gone-it's horrible.)) With the half-century mark now here - she's asking locals if they have any old info from late January of '71 that could help shrink the search zone. ((BARBARA NIKITAS / Lost Uncle in Mystery Plane Crash: 22:48: we're putting together this one million piece puzzle, and every time we get a little piece, it gets us closer to our goal.)) ((JACK THURSTON: Maybe it was hearing a plane flying low from a childhood address, a flash of light in the sky, or finding some metal on the beach the following spring your parents made you throw away. Whatever it is, the families want to hear it - they've set up this new email address to take tips.)) ((KRISTINA COFFEY / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 16:22: any any any information is valuable.)) Kristina Coffey was only three when she hugged her daddy goodbye one last time before his business trip. Five decades later, and she now has a motto about the mystery crash: ((KRISTINA COFFEY / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 25:24: you can't find peace til you find all the pieces. JACK: And what does that phrase mean to you? KRISTINA: Oh it's huge. I'm not at peace, Jack, I'm really not. I'm just not going to stop searching. I just want to say I got you. I found you. I'm not going to stop.)) ((Nats memorial service: 29:52: even what has been forgotten is never lost.)) During that lakeshore memorial service Frank Wilder streamed live to loved ones of the crash victims across the country, the virtual group prayed for answers. ((FRANK WILDER / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Crash: 5:04: we'll always wonder.)) Because after so many sunsets and dark nights of not knowing what happened to the jet - the families of the men onboard are optimistic 2021 will finally, finally bring a new dawn of healing. ((KRISTINA COFFEY / Lost Dad in Mystery Plane Cra