After several days of searching, divers announced on Saturday that they have ruled out a pond near the Dartmouth Skiway as the location of the remains of the Lear Jet missing since Christmas Eve.
A high-metal-content anomaly detected through an electromagnetic search by T&A Engineers last month, suspected to be a part of the ill-fated plane, turned out to be "well below the surface of the pond," said Jay Hayes, brother of one of the jet's pilots.
"There were old logs on the floor of the pond that had been there for many decades and hadn't been disturbed," said Hayes. "It was safe to conclude that there was nothing there."
According to Lyme Police Chief Albert Pomeroy, a Model-T Ford, a tractor and a sawmill have all been reported over the years to be resting in Reservoir Pond -- located two miles from the Skiway on Dorcester Road -- and any of these could be the large metal object detected by the engineers.
A ground search of the area around the pond also proved fruitless, and another search effort for the jet is planned for May 10 and 11.
Divers will continue to search in other bodies of water in the area, and may investigate a portion of the Connecticut River near Hanover.
Pilots Patrick Hayes, 30, of Clinton, Conn., and Johan Schwartz, 31, of Fairfield, Conn., were trying to abort a landing at Lebanon Municipal Airport on Dec. 24 when their jet went off radar and disappeared without a trace.
More than four months after the disappearance of the jet, investigators still have no clues as to the whereabouts of the plane.
Jay Hayes said the pilots were traveling parallel to the Connecticut River when they lost radar contact.
The jet may not be in a body of water, however, and time may be running out to conduct a land search by air.
"The highest probability is that it's on land, maybe Smarts Mountain," said Hayes, who would like to eliminate the possibility of a "water scenario" and concentrate on land areas.
Hayes said that he is trying to get New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen to authorize resources for a search with helicopters before the foliage blooms and it is "futile to look by air."
The state search officially ended on Jan. 6 but volunteers resumed looking for the jet on April 26. The World Wide Web page for the search at www.ctol.net/jay urges anyone with any information or interest in volunteering to call 1-888-538-4630.
