Nelson, Plane Missing In ND Since Aug. 24
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
FARGO, N.D. - Mentone native Robert Nelson, now of Battle Lake, Minn., and his single-engne Piper Cherokee have been missing since Aug. 24 according to family members and Associated Press reports.
Nelson, 60, took off from Bismark, N.D. en route to Fargo, N.D. or perhaps Fergus Falls, Minn, where he had a hangar.
Civil Air Patrols have conducted aerial and ground searches for the pilot, covering 13,000 square miles.
Anne Utter of Mentone, Nelson's sister, said her brother has been flying for eight years and was meticulous about pre-flight checks and equipment.
"We just don't know what happened," Utter said this week of her brother's disappearance. "Searchers said if he'd have gone down in a lake they would have spotted debris from the plane or something by now."
Nelson's mother Esther Nelson also lives in Mentone.
Robert Nelson is a Mentone High School graduate.
They've been in contact with Robert Nelson's wife, Molly Crawford. The couple live at Otter Trail Lake, near Battle Lake.
Crawford talked to her husband at noon the day of his disappearance, a day marked with heavy rain, hail and funnel clouds in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota.
Nelson was reported missing at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 24.
An "emergency locate" transmitter on the aircraft did not emit any signals. The last radr tracking signal from Nelson was southwest of Jamestown, about an hour after he took off.
Crawford is the director of the Transportation Security Administration in Fargo. Nelson owned the plane with his wife's sister.
The Civil Air Patrol will likely call off the search for Nelson Sunday if nothing is found.
Col. Karl Altenburg, with the Civil Air Patrol office in Fargo, said Thursday that leads have dried up, and officials are running out of places to look.
'We're looking at Saturday as a likely day to suspend the search,' Altenburg said Thursday. He said the decision would be made jointly by the Civil Air Patrol, North Dakota Department of Emergency Services and the Air Force.
The Air Force is funding the search effort. Altenburg estimated the cost Thursday at between $20,000 and $30,000. He said pilots have logged more than 500 hours in the air.
'The (Nelson) aircraft is likely hidden someplace in trees or water, or outside our suspected search area,' Altenburg said.
The search has involved an Australian-made aircraft, a Gippsland GA-8 Airvan equipped with technology that analyzes objects by how they reflect light; two aircraft from North Dakota, five from South Dakota and seven from Minnesota. Two ground crews also were involved. There were a total of 70 Civil Air Patrol personnel involved in the search.
Appeals were made to landowners to search their properties for any sign of the Piper Cherokee, too. [[In-content Ad]]
FARGO, N.D. - Mentone native Robert Nelson, now of Battle Lake, Minn., and his single-engne Piper Cherokee have been missing since Aug. 24 according to family members and Associated Press reports.
Nelson, 60, took off from Bismark, N.D. en route to Fargo, N.D. or perhaps Fergus Falls, Minn, where he had a hangar.
Civil Air Patrols have conducted aerial and ground searches for the pilot, covering 13,000 square miles.
Anne Utter of Mentone, Nelson's sister, said her brother has been flying for eight years and was meticulous about pre-flight checks and equipment.
"We just don't know what happened," Utter said this week of her brother's disappearance. "Searchers said if he'd have gone down in a lake they would have spotted debris from the plane or something by now."
Nelson's mother Esther Nelson also lives in Mentone.
Robert Nelson is a Mentone High School graduate.
They've been in contact with Robert Nelson's wife, Molly Crawford. The couple live at Otter Trail Lake, near Battle Lake.
Crawford talked to her husband at noon the day of his disappearance, a day marked with heavy rain, hail and funnel clouds in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota.
Nelson was reported missing at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 24.
An "emergency locate" transmitter on the aircraft did not emit any signals. The last radr tracking signal from Nelson was southwest of Jamestown, about an hour after he took off.
Crawford is the director of the Transportation Security Administration in Fargo. Nelson owned the plane with his wife's sister.
The Civil Air Patrol will likely call off the search for Nelson Sunday if nothing is found.
Col. Karl Altenburg, with the Civil Air Patrol office in Fargo, said Thursday that leads have dried up, and officials are running out of places to look.
'We're looking at Saturday as a likely day to suspend the search,' Altenburg said Thursday. He said the decision would be made jointly by the Civil Air Patrol, North Dakota Department of Emergency Services and the Air Force.
The Air Force is funding the search effort. Altenburg estimated the cost Thursday at between $20,000 and $30,000. He said pilots have logged more than 500 hours in the air.
'The (Nelson) aircraft is likely hidden someplace in trees or water, or outside our suspected search area,' Altenburg said.
The search has involved an Australian-made aircraft, a Gippsland GA-8 Airvan equipped with technology that analyzes objects by how they reflect light; two aircraft from North Dakota, five from South Dakota and seven from Minnesota. Two ground crews also were involved. There were a total of 70 Civil Air Patrol personnel involved in the search.
Appeals were made to landowners to search their properties for any sign of the Piper Cherokee, too. [[In-content Ad]]