Experts believe they've located the wreckage of a private jet that vanished in Lake Champlain on a snowy Vermont night in 1971. The plane, carrying five people, disappeared shortly after takeoff from Burlington for Providence, Rhode Island.
The missing aircraft was a 10-seat Jet Commander. Extensive search efforts, including at least 17 attempts, failed to find any trace of the plane. Winter's icy grip on the lake further hampered the search after just four days. However, recent exploration using a remotely operated vehicle by underwater searcher Garry Kozak and his team has yielded promising results. They discovered wreckage of a jet with a matching custom paint scheme near the last known location provided by the Burlington radio control tower. Sonar images captured the wreck lying 200 feet (60 meters) deep near Juniper Island.
"With all those pieces of evidence, we're 99% absolutely sure," Garry Kozak told the Independent on Monday.
The discovery of the wreckage gives the families of the victims "some closure and answers a lot of the questions they had," he said.
Although relatives are grateful and relieved that the plane has been found, the discovery also raises more questions and reopens old wounds.
"To have this found now ... it's peaceful feeling, at the same time it's a very sad feeling," Barbara Nikita, niece of pilot George Nikita, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We know what happened. We've seen a couple of photos. We're struggling I think with that now."
Frank Wilder's father, also Frank Wilder, was a passenger on the plane.
"Spending 53 years not knowing if the plane was in the lake or maybe on a mountainside around there somewhere was distressing," said Wilder, who lives outside if Philadelphia. "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."
While debris from the plane surfaced near Shelburne Point in the spring 1971, an underwater search that May proved fruitless. Determined to find answers, searches continued over the years, with at least 17 attempts documented. In 2014, the Malaysia Airlines disappearance reignited hope, prompting another search using advanced technology, but it wasn't successful.
A crucial turning point came with the efforts of Barbara Nikita and Kristina Nikita Coffey, relatives of a victim. They spearheaded recent searches and connected with other families impacted by the tragedy. Charles Williams, whose father was on the plane, described the power of collaboration: "Reconnecting with the group was amazing. Everyone held pieces of the puzzle. By sharing information and documents, we gained a much deeper understanding and perspective on the event, and how it affected us all."
Charles Williams praised Garry Kozak's relentless pursuit in finding the missing plane. After the unsuccessful 2014 search, Kozak pored over a lake sonar survey conducted by the Champlain Maritime Museum and Middlebury College. His persistence paid off - he identified four potential underwater targets.
In 2022, a renewed search effort materialized when a colleague, Hans Hug, and a friend with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) expressed interest. While their initial search yielded a military aircraft, Kozak didn't give up. Last winter, a re-examination of the sonar data revealed another anomaly. This one, thankfully, turned out to be the long-lost plane wreckage, confirmed by the team last month.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently investigating to verify the wreckage's identity. Williams acknowledges that salvaging the plane would be a costly endeavor beyond the NTSB's scope.
"Whether there is tangible remains, and I hate to say it that way, and worth disturbing that's a decision that we'll have to figure out later, and part of what we're unpacking now," he said. "It's hard when you start to think about that."
Now that the plane's location is known, the victims' relatives plan to hold a memorial.
