An expert miraculously found a private plane that disappeared in 1971 with five passengers on board during a recent recovery mission.
On January 27, 1971, a plane took off on a cold, snowy night from Burlington International Airport to Providence, Rhode Island. The plane was carrying two crew members and three employees of Cousin’s Properties, an Atlanta-based development company.
The flight disappeared and George Nikita, Donald Myers, Frank Wilder, Richard Kirby Windsor and Robert Ransom Williams III were never found, despite multiple searches over the past five decades.
Garry Kozak of Goffstown, New Hampshire, has found what he believes is the 10-seat Jet Commander plane at the bottom of Lake Champlain, off Juniper Island.
‘You can’t find peace until you find all the pieces, and today is the day. Today is the day. And that’s it,” said Kristina Coffey, the daughter of George, the plane’s pilot. NBC5 News.
On January 27, 1971, a plane took off from Burlington International Airport bound for Providence, Rhode Island, but appeared to have crashed into Lake Champlain. Pieces of the plane were found over Memorial Day weekend. (pictured: an undated photo of the plane)
The flight disappeared and (from left) George Nikita, Donald Myers, Frank Wilder, Richard Kirby Windsor and Robert Ransom Williams III were never found.
Kozak located the remains over Memorial Day weekend, but news of his discovery was withheld until the victims’ families were informed.
Prior to the recent discovery, pieces of debris, including wreckage of the plane and an oxygen tank, were found, but the entire plane was never located.
Kozak said he spent years searching for strange shapes at the bottom of Lake Champlain and analyzing previous scans of the water.
“Looking for anything that’s been lost underwater is always an interesting story,” Kozak said.
‘And the other (factor), in this particular case, is the families. You know, she had talked to a couple of them in 2014 and knew that they really hoped they would find the plane.
During a follow-up search in May, Kozak and his team used remotely operated vehicles and high-resolution imaging technology to find multiple remains that had never been located before.
The crew discovered a broken fuselage, or main body of a plane, deep under the water with paint matching that of the plane that disappeared all those years ago.
They also found an instrument panel, the structure of a wing, apparent remains of an engine and other revealing evidence.
Kozak told NBC 5 News he is sure he found the long-lost plane, as no other corporate planes were reported to have been found at the bottom of the 490-square-mile lake.
“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” he said.
He credited the team who helped him make the discovery: Hans Hug, of Sonar Search and Recovery in Exeter, Hug’s colleague Bruce Stebbins, and Tim McDonald of Marine Solutions.
After locating the missing plane, Kozak provided all of his findings to the National Transportation Safety Board and authorities for confirmation.
Although the team solved the cold case, Kozak said they wouldn’t have been able to do so if others hadn’t made progress over the years.
“There were a lot of people who contributed something that made this happen,” he said. “And if any of them hadn’t contributed, this would never have happened.”
The exact location of the downed plane will remain confidential to protect and respect the site, NBC 5 News reported.
Other relatives of the passengers who have been presumed dead all these years felt great closure and pain over the recent update.
The crew discovered a broken fuselage, or main body of a plane, deep under the water with paint that matched (pictured) that of the plane that disappeared all those years ago.
Frank Wilder’s son, also Frank Wilder, said a lot of emotions came over him.
‘I feel a mixture of shock and disbelief right now. “I never thought this day would happen,” Wilder said.
“I’m very relieved they found him,” he added.
George’s daughter said she is also relieved the plane was located.
“I’m glad she’s here in my life and I’m glad my mom is still alive,” Coffey said.
‘I cried because, you know, we’ve had a lot of false alarms. Something that looks like an airplane and is not an airplane. And that’s it.’
Barbara Nikita, George’s niece and goddaughter, has a similar reaction to the important update in the case.
“It’s a very strange feeling,” he said. ‘When I look at the photos, I am somewhere between shock, amazement and an upset stomach. It’s a closure. It will be the closing. This will be her resting place.’
After locating the missing plane, Kozak provided all of his findings to the National Transportation Safety Board and authorities for confirmation.
Like Kozak, both Nikita and Coffey are extremely grateful to state police, environmental teams, conservation teams, nonprofit organizations, historians and everyone else who has been involved in the decades-long search.
It is unclear what will happen to the sunken plane, as an expert close to the investigation told NBC 5 News that extracting the plane would require a lot of time, patience and money.
Families plan to wait and see what the next steps will be now that they have had a sense of closure.