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March 26, 2004

MiG-17 Still Missing After Nightlong Search

The Associated Press
   TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M.   —   The pilot of a single-engine airplane that disappeared from radar reported fuel transfer problems minutes earlier, state police said.
    Search crews from state police and the Civil Air Patrol conducted a ground search through Thursday night for the MiG-17.
    The privately owned civilian airplane was flying from Roswell to the Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix when the pilot advised of the problems, state police Lt. Jimmy Glascock said.
    The airplane left Roswell at 7 a.m. MST. Contact was lost at around 7:30 a.m., Glascock said.
    A state police helicopter and Civil Air Patrol airplanes aided in the search Thursday afternoon.
    Searchers said they held out hope because the pilot, who was the only person aboard the airplane, had a parachute.
    The desert west of Truth or Consequences was pinpointed based on the coordinates of the last radar signal received from the airplane, Glascock said.
    Police did not immediately release the pilot's name or the owner of the aircraft.
    The older fighter aircraft are brought to the United States and converted into airplanes used for pleasure, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes.
    The pilot had filed a flight plan and the airplane was being monitored from Albuquerque when its radar signal was lost. Officials at the Deer Valley Airport confirmed that the airplane never arrived, Glascock said.