Arkansas Civil Air Patrol issued the following announcement on Jan. 8.
The first mission assigned to Civil Air Patrol for 2022 came just as revelers were celebrating the arrival of the new year. The resulting search ended 2½ days later with the discovery of a crashed airplane and a deceased pilot – not the result anyone wanted, but a source of closure for family and friends.
The mission involved a missing plane reported overdue on its flight from Marana, Arizona, northwest of Tucson, to Riverside, California. An Alert Notice from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived in CAP National Radar Analysis Team members’ inboxes.
“The team looked at the preliminary radar data and it didn’t make sense. The time in the ALNOT didn’t match any aircraft leaving Marana,” said Lt. Col. Mark Young, radar team commander. “We did see a radar track for a plane leaving Marana about an hour later and flying into weather.”
Maj. Jerad Hoff responded when the National Cell Phone Forensics Team subsequently received the mission alert as well.
Based on the last known position from the radar team and data obtained from the cellular carrier and Google, a recommended search area was defined. An Arizona Department of Public Safety Bell Jet Ranger helicopter searched the area the first hours of New Year’s Day.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Arkansas Civil Air Patrol
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