Experts are claiming that they have finally discovered the wreckage of a corporate jet in Lake Champlain that disappeared over fifty years ago. On the night of January 27, 1971, the plane carrying five men vanished shortly after taking off from Burlington Airport, Vermont, en route to Providence, Rhode Island.
Among the passengers on board the 10-seat Jet Commander were two crew members and three employees of Cousin's Properties, a development company based in Atlanta, Georgia, working on a project in Burlington. Despite initial search efforts and 17 subsequent searches over the years, no wreckage was found, and the lake, which is 400 feet deep, froze over just four days after the crash.
However, last month, underwater search expert Garry Kozak and his team, using a remotely operated vehicle, discovered a wreckage of a jet matching the missing aircraft's custom paint scheme in Lake Champlain. The wreckage was located 200 feet below the surface near Juniper Island, about three miles southwest of Burlington, close to where the radio control tower had last tracked the plane.
"With all those pieces of evidence, we're 99% absolutely sure," Kozak said.
This discovery of the wreckage offers some closure to the victims' families, providing answers to questions that have lingered for decades. Kozak explained that the search was prolonged due to the nature of jet wreckage. He said, "A jet, it looks like a pile of rocks, literally. So, to most people looking at sonar data, they can overlook it because they'll go, 'Oh, that looks like geology”.
The 1971 crash has remained a painful mystery for the relatives of those lost. Barbara Nikita, niece of pilot George Nikita, expressed mixed emotions: "To have this found now... it's a peaceful feeling, at the same time it's a very sad feeling."
Frank Wilder, whose father was a passenger on the plane, echoed similar sentiments, feeling both relieved and burdened with new questions.
Following the crash, debris from the plane was found on Shelburne Point when the ice melted in the spring of 1971, but underwater searches were unsuccessful in locating the wreckage. During that time, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines had taken the center stage of curiosity among authorities, and there was a hope the new technology would find the wreck. However, it wasn't until Barbara Nikita and her cousin, Kristina Nikita Coffey, spearheaded recent search efforts, reconnecting with other victims' relatives, that the discovery was made.
Charles Williams, whose father, Robert Ransom Williams III, an employee of Cousin's Properties, was on the plane, said, “What was fascinating in reconnecting with the group was everybody had pieces of the pie and the puzzle that when we started sharing information and sharing documents what we got was a much greater both understanding and perspective of the information, how we were all impacted by this.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating to confirm the plane's identity. The NTSB typically does not conduct salvage operations, leaving the decision of whether to disturb the site to the families.
The families of the victims are planning a memorial now that the plane's location is known, finding solace in the long-awaited resolution of the mystery.
This discovery follows another recent recovery, that of a Tuskegee airman's plane from a World War II training mission in Lake Huron, highlighting the advancements in underwater search technology.
