N7062NBeech V35A · 1967

On June 20, 2009, about 1600 Alaska daylight time a Beech V35A airplane, N7062N, departed Wolf Lake Airport, about 6 miles west of Palmer, Alaska, on a visual flight rules (VFR) international cross-country flight to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, with an ultimate destination of Bettendorf, Indiana.

When the airplane did not arrive in Whitehorse as scheduled, a search was initiated in both the United States and Canada, and an alert notice was issued for an overdue/missing airplane by the FAA. Cell phone records indicate the airplane may have traveled as far as Northway, Alaska near the Canadian border, before the signal was lost.

The airplane reportedly was equipped with a 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitter (ELT), and not the newer generation 406 MHz ELT. The 121.5 MHz ELT's are no longer capable of being received by search and rescue satellites, whereas the 406 MHz ELT's are.

On Friday July 17, 2009, all official active searching for the missing airplane was suspended. No evidence of the missing airplane was found. The airplane is presumed to have crashed, and the pilot and sole passenger have not been located.

The 68-year old pilot held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating. His last third-class medical certificate was issued on November 1, 2007.

No personal flight records were located for the pilot, and the aeronautical experience listed in this report was obtained from FAA records on file in the Airman and Medical Records Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On the pilot's application for medical certificate, dated November 1, 2007, he indicated that his total aeronautical experience was 1,850 flight hours, of which 100 flight hours were in the previous 6 months.

The airplane was 1967 Beech V35A single-engine airplane. No airplane logbooks were discovered for examination.

The closest weather reporting facility to the last suspected position of the airplane was at Eureka, Alaska. At 2136, the automated weather reporting station reported, in part: Wind, calm; visibility, 10 statute miles; clouds and sky condition, 4100 feet overcast; temperature, 07 degrees C; dew point, 01 degrees C; altimeter, 29.70 inHg.

The last known communications was at 1606, when the pilot opened his flight plan with the Palmer FAA Flight Service Station. Estimated time en route was three and one-half hours.

No emergency transmitter locator (ELT) signal was received by search personnel.

The pilot had filed an international flight plan. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, Anchorage, Alaska, and the Alaska State Troopers, conducted extensive air, and ground searches along the United States portions of the flight. The official search was suspended on July 17, 2009. The Canadian authorities searched the Canadian portions of the route from the Alaska border to the destination. Throughout the search, marginal VFR and instrument flight conditions hampered search efforts. No sign of the airplane and its occupants were discovered. Family members and volunteers continued to search for the missing airplane with no results.