A year-long search has yet to shed any light on the mystery surrounding the fate of the 40-foot Lear Jet that disappeared last Christmas Eve while attempting to land at the Lebanon Municipal airport.
Wayfarer Aviation, Inc., the company which sponsored the missing jet, contacted the Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering last fall in order to have "fresh new eyes" look at the situation, according to Norman Rice '97, an Engineering student currently involved in the project.
The intent of the Thayer project is to coordinate data from a variety of sources, determine a probable location for the plane and eventually bring closure to the case, Rice said.
Sources of information used to compile the report include radar tracking and satellite information, air, water and ground searches and over 250 eye-witness reports.
"Bringing all the information together, that was a battle in itself," Rice said.
The gathered data was used to develop scenarios which attempt to recreate the last moments of the flight of the Lear Jet, whatever course it may have taken.
The report examines what could have happened if the pilots planned to land the plane but crashed and also the scenario that the pilots intended to steal the plane and landed elsewhere.
Although the report states that the group "looked towards trying to dispel the stolen airplane scenario," Rice said, "the fact that no one has found the plane yet leaves the option open."
Rice said a database is being developed which overlays the air tracking information of manned and unmanned airports in the area. At the time the plane disappeared, the satellite at Burlington was shut down for its routine one-day-a-week maintenance.
"It would have been a good day to duck out without much coverage," said Rice.
Due to poor weather in the air, including fog and high winds, it seems unlikely that the pilots would have attempted to fly low over the rugged terrain of the Upper Valley, which is dotted with lakes, mountains, and dense forests, he said.
"The woods are really uncharted," said Rice. "If the plane dipped below a certain altitude while attempting to land it would disappear into the woods."
Because of the rugged terrain ground search efforts have been largely unsuccessful and air search attempts have also revealed little. An independent group tested the theory that the plane could be hidden in one of the lakes using sonar to detect the presence of any large metal objects.
A high-metal-content anomaly detected through an electromagnetic search by T&A Engineers last April was suspected to be a part of the ill-fated plane, but it 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."
At the time, Lyme Police Chief Albert Pomeroy said 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.
Thousands of volunteers have been involved in the search operations but covering the terrain is difficult, according to some, because the official organizations coordinating search efforts are difficult to contact.
The Thayer report said the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, which coordinated the professional ground search, displayed "a concealed attitude." The report went on to say that, though the department has the data necessary to make a complete study, "their representatives have been very difficult to reach and when we have succeeded they have not responded to our questions."
The Fish and Game Department was unavailable for comment.
