Missing Plane Found in Lake 53 Years Later

A private plane wreckage that mysteriously disappeared after it crashed has finally been found, after more than five decades of people searching for it.

The corporate jet was carrying five men when it disappeared after leaving the Burlington airport in Iowa for Providence, Rhode Island, on January 27, 1971.

Initial searches were unsuccessful and then Lake Champlain in Vermont, where the plane was believed to have gone down, froze over within four days.

At least 17 searches were carried out in total, but it was only last month that any of them were fruitful, when underwater searcher Garry Kozak and his team said they found the 10-seat Jet Commander in the lake.

Using a remotely operated vehicle, they discovered a wreckage with the same custom paint job as the one that went down all those years ago.

It was near where the radio control tower had last tracked the plane before it disappeared, in 200 feet of water near Juniper Island.

On Monday, Kozak said he was 99 percent sure it was the right wreckage.

The plane had been carrying two crew members and three employees of the Georgia development company Cousins Properties, which had been working on a project in Burlington.

Many relatives have said they are grateful for this discovery, with the niece of pilot George Nikita, Barbara Nikitas, telling The Associated Press: “To have this found now[…]it’s a peaceful feeling, at the same time it’s a very sad feeling.

“We know what happened. We’ve seen a couple of photos. We’re struggling, I think, with that now.”

Similarly, Frank Wilder, whose father, who had the same name, was on the jet, said: “Spending 53 years not knowing if the plane was in the lake or maybe on a mountainside around there somewhere was distressing.

“And again, I’m feeling relieved that I know where the plane is now, but unfortunately it’s opening other questions and we have to work on those now.”

Charles Williams, who lost his father Robert Ransom Williams III in the tragedy, called Kozak a hero for his commitment to finding the plane.

Kozak thought he may have found the plane in 2022, after he and colleague Hans Hug of Sonar Search and Recovery in Exeter, New Hampshire, searched four anomalies found on the lake floor in a previous sonar survey.

But this ended up being a military aircraft, so, last winter, Kozak searched the sonar survey again and found another anomaly—which ended up being the wreckage he now believes was the jet.

The National Transportation Safety Board is currently carrying out investigations to verify it is the right plane.

Relatives of the victims said they plan to hold a memorial now that they know where the plane was located.