BajaNomad

friends missing in plane returning from baja

capt. mike - 10-31-2006 at 04:36 AM

This from the BBP. They are my neighbors at the serenidad. Please any/all by land or air keep an eye out for them. Some of the nicest people you'd ever meet.

Aircraft missing in Baja - 10/30/2006


We were contacted this afternoon by Don Johnson of the Hotel Serenidad who indicated that an aircraft left Mulege on Monday, October 23 for the US and is presumed to be lost and /or down. He was notified this afternoon by relatives who expected the aircraft home early this week.

The aircraft departed Mulege Monday and encountered bad weather to the North. The pilot returned to the Serenidad and waited about two hours and made the decision to depart again to what it is believed to the North.

In checking with San Felipe and Mexicali, the aircraft did not land or report passing their station. And we have confirmed with both US Flight Service and US Customs that the aircraft has not entered the US at any US port of entry within the missing time period. It is presumed that it either landed at a strip, made a hard landing damaging the aircraft so it cannot fly, or has gone down somewhere between Mulege and Calexico. The pilot is a seasoned Baja traveler and normally uses Calexico as his port of entry into the US. The Emergency response group of the US Coast Guard indicates that there has been no ELT signal reported by either the US or Mexico.



The information is as follows:



Pilot: Gary Thomas

Passenger: Peggy Thomas

N Number: N9667Y

Aircraft: Beach Bonanza P35

City: Escalon

State: California



The FAA database indicates that he is a private pilot, airplane, single engine land. It is not indicated that he is instrument rated and it is assumed that he is not.



US Flight service has been notified of the missing aircraft along with US Customs. In addition, San Felipe is broadcasting information of the missing aircraft to all controlled Mexican airports in the Northwest.



If you have seen this aircraft in the last one week time period, please contact the BBP at 480 730 3250 or the US Coast Guard at 510 437 3701. If you call the Coast Guard, indicate that the call is in reference to N9667Y.



Questions that we have include:

Did anyone talk to him via radio in flight on Monday?

Did anyone talk to him in person that might have information on his route or

destination on Monday?

If anyone knows the pilot, questions that we have include:

Does he normally fly high or low?

Does he fly over the land or over the water on that route?

How much fuel would he have, i.e. did he have extended range tanks.

With San Felipe out of fuel, did he attempt to reach Mexicali?



And, with the storm, he could have diverted anywhere over land or the Sea of Cortez



If you are flying from the US to Mulege, please watch for any signs of the aircraft. And, even though it has been a long time, monitor 121.5 for any ELT signal.

Bruce R Leech - 10-31-2006 at 07:44 AM

Wow Mike this is really bad news I hope we get some response to this post . do you know if anyone is flying a search? I know it is almost imposable with so many square miles and not knowing the route he took.

Please let us know if you here anything.

bajarich - 10-31-2006 at 08:57 AM

If no one has picked up a EPIRB signal, there is a chance he diverted. Let's hope so.

Summanus - 10-31-2006 at 09:49 AM

capt. mike...I hope they are found soon and okay. Do you..or does anyone else..know if these aviators have any relationship to other Thomas's living in the area?

capt. mike - 10-31-2006 at 10:52 AM

don't know other thomas's
recent reports are on the BBP including 2 planes that were talking to them. he went IMC in a climb to what he thot was a clear layer at 5000 but was not heard from, north of chivato. if over water and got disoriented in the climb it could be bad and in the drink no wreckage to find.
i am sick about this.

the other thing is Diana and Marcos were going to go with them that day but decided against it.

Bruce R Leech - 10-31-2006 at 12:48 PM

do they have any idea how far north they were when they tried to climb?

could there have been Icing conditions below 5000? doesn't seem likely but.:no:

Hook - 10-31-2006 at 12:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajarich
If no one has picked up a EPIRB signal, there is a chance he diverted. Let's hope so.


Is a plane EPIRB able to deploy and operate if the plane goes in the drink? If the plane sinks in 1000+ feet of water?

FARASHA - 10-31-2006 at 12:59 PM

EPIRB ? That like the Blackbox ?
Hope they are okay ! Don't know them - but still !!

[Edited on 31-10-2006 by FARASHA]

Bruce R Leech - 10-31-2006 at 01:03 PM

no it is more like an emergency locater beacon that goes off automatically if the plane suffers a extreme impact or jar. they are picked up by satellite.

FARASHA - 10-31-2006 at 01:07 PM

AHJA, Thanks Bruce!

Al G - 10-31-2006 at 01:17 PM

Are all private aircraft required to have EPIRB ?

EPIRB/ELT

thebajarunner - 10-31-2006 at 04:29 PM

Someone has jumped in here and muddied the waters.
An EPIRB is for marine/boating.
ELT is for aviation.
They work off the same general concept, as an emergency locating device.
The ELT does not always work after an incident. Sometimes it is damaged in the crash (not usually) sometimes the batteries have failed, and it would not work underwater (a very likely, and a very sad possibility in the current situation)
Hope that helps.
**** from a long time pilot who now leaves the flying to my airline flying daughter

Bajagypsy - 10-31-2006 at 05:42 PM

I truly hope that the people in the aircraft are found safe and sound, our thoughts are with their family and friends.

Bruce R Leech - 10-31-2006 at 05:58 PM

this is good info grover it seem like those of us in the Mulege area can look around Palo Verdi and Punta Chivato. I will be asking people in that area if they herd anything.

capt. mike - 11-1-2006 at 05:02 AM

good idea thx Bruce. i just cannot believe this event.....they worked so hard together fixing up their place at Don's the last year. They gave lots of people rides home and many times mex nationals like Alejandro a trip to the states and back. Gary is also a pro fishing guide in Cal. Well, if in fact the worst has occured at least they were together doing what they loved the most, flying and baja.

Missing airplace post below ???

Hook - 11-1-2006 at 11:54 AM

The one that was posted by pangamadness. This post will not let me reply to it. The reply button is not there and the quick reply window at the bottom is not there. I logged off, logged on....still no luck. anyone else notice this?

Anyway, my question was going to be to Capt. Mike. When did this plane leave the Serenidad, i.e., what time of day. Not mentioned in the original post, as far as I saw.

There are a number of gringo fishermen who have returned to their campos at San Lucas Cove. May be worth getting the word out amongst them to look for a slick or debris on their fishing expeditions. Winds have been hampering them lately, though.

Summanus - 11-1-2006 at 01:18 PM

San Bruno...San Lucas ...Sta. Rosalia areas. A word on the VHF radio out there might help to get notice to the fisherfolk...
channel 72 over there?..or maybe 22?

Spread the word

pangamadness - 11-1-2006 at 02:00 PM

I e-mailed Capt Mikes info to Gonzaga Bay, La Bay and San Francisquito.

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 02:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hook
The one that was posted by pangamadness. This post will not let me reply to it. The reply button is not there and the quick reply window at the bottom is not there. I logged off, logged on....still no luck. anyone else notice this?

Anyway, my question was going to be to Capt. Mike. When did this plane leave the Serenidad, i.e., what time of day. Not mentioned in the original post, as far as I saw.

There are a number of gringo fishermen who have returned to their campos at San Lucas Cove. May be worth getting the word out amongst them to look for a slick or debris on their fishing expeditions. Winds have been hampering them lately, though.


some one thought it would be cool to lock the thread and not say anything. it is to bad they need to play this kind of games on such an important thread where people are spending lots of money to hopefully save some lives.:no:

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 02:48 PM

then they should move it to the other thread and tell people what they are doing and why.

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 02:52 PM

Could some of you Nomads in Santa Rosalia, San Bruno, and San Lucas ask some fisherman if they herd anything strange.

and also put it out on the uhf in spanish.

Summanus - 11-1-2006 at 02:54 PM

Bruce, you meant VHF, but they will get the message.

Hook - 11-1-2006 at 02:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Summanus
San Bruno...San Lucas ...Sta. Rosalia areas. A word on the VHF radio out there might help to get notice to the fisherfolk...
channel 72 over there?..or maybe 22?


Typically 72 in that area.

Pescador - 11-1-2006 at 03:03 PM

What do they think, that we are in the dark ages in San Lucas Cove, I knew about the situation within 15 minutes of Mike's post and have put the word out.
Another plane that took off at the same time made it but reported the worst flying conditions of his entire career. That and the fact that the person missing was flying a "V-tailed Doctor Killer" and you have the possibility of a real problem.

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 04:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pescador
What do they think, that we are in the dark ages in San Lucas Cove, I knew about the situation within 15 minutes of Mike's post and have put the word out.
Another plane that took off at the same time made it but reported the worst flying conditions of his entire career. That and the fact that the person missing was flying a "V-tailed Doctor Killer" and you have the possibility of a real problem.


thanks Pescador keep putting it out their and in Spanish if you can. and everyone else also

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 04:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Summanus
Bruce, you meant VHF, but they will get the message.


you are right.

capt. mike - 11-1-2006 at 04:52 PM

the info is at the BBP site, thx Pescador too.

left on the 23rd, came back, waited 2 hours and went out again. in the morning. was talking to 2 other flyers ahead north and might have attempted some IMC in a climb to get between layers but didn't call back. fear is he lost spatial control and might have augered in. the thing with a v tail is once in an incipient stall you spin immediately and getting it out of rotation is tough if you're not quick. lots of "Dr.s" did it because even if they could buy one, if they weren't regularly proficient that plane would get a head of you real quick. they're fast but dangerous if you aren't on top of them. so Beech finally quit building them after too many product liability suits. fact is its a great plane otherwise.

based on where he was, between chivato and santa rosalia, maybe north a ways more, it might have gone in the drink.

several BBPers are on an aerial search today.

i will be south next weekend 10-12 on a sams mission and am going to look in the mountains from BOLA to Serenidad.

Bruce R Leech - 11-1-2006 at 05:25 PM

thanks for the update Mike I hope some one can get to that area before the 10th. also I hope all the fisherman are looking for anything floating in the water and on the beaches.

BajaNomad - 11-2-2006 at 01:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
then they should move it to the other thread and tell people what they are doing and why.
Bruce, since there was a link to the original thread in a later thread that I closed, I didn't think an explanation would be necessary.

Sorry if that was not the case.

--
Doug

JZ - 11-2-2006 at 01:25 AM

What were the weather conditions like. I heard there was a strong Norther around that time. Santa Anas were in SoCal several days before then.

capt. mike - 11-2-2006 at 04:41 AM

it was really crappy, rain, thunder, lightning across much of the area from mulege to san felipe from pireps on the BBP site. one guy enroute same time from hermosillo to calexico said everything west of him from BOLA north was very dark. made no sense to attack it unless you were IFR, current on guages and in an AC that was capable - and still no real reason to HAVE to fly! waiting it out only made sense. "get-home-itis" takes another one down i guess.

Bruce R Leech - 11-2-2006 at 11:01 AM

Mike do you know if BBP is flying serch down this far yet?

capt. mike - 11-2-2006 at 11:59 AM

Thursday, November 2nd

Update

Four aiplanes were out searching yesterday and they were out flying again early this morning and will be searching again today. The ELT that was reported to San Felipe was to an aircraft in Bay of Los Angeles that had tripped it´s ELT. We have nothing new to report on the missing aircraft at the moment.

Flying in Bad Weather

MrBillM - 11-2-2006 at 12:10 PM

Back when I was a youngster first taking Flying Lessons in the 60s, there was a well-known proverb regarding General Aviation which stated: "If you've got time to spare, go by air".

During the time period when I flew as a private pilot (1960s-1980s), although there were a number of occasions when I flew in less than perfect conditions, I never hesitated to remain on the ground when conditions were such that I felt they could go beyond my capability to make it safely to my destination.

It is unfortunate and sad, but common, for Private pilots (and sometimes professionals) to either under-estimate the severity of the weather conditions or over-estimate their capabilities to handle those conditions.

Pescador - 11-2-2006 at 12:21 PM

Mike, I was out fishing that day, or should I say I was attempting to fish since we had friends from Alaska. It was impossible as well as dangerous to be on the water that day. We tried three times to get out of the cove. There was severe lightning, strong wind gusts, heavy virga, and torrential rains at times. I hate to say anything negative here but it was a day that I would have sat on the ground and not flown but it was also one of those sucker days when you thought you might get a break and go for it. We tried it with the boat and came back in three times.
We were talking to Don Johnson and he talked to one of the pilots who made the flight that day and he reported that it was the worst flight he had ever experienced.
San Marcos Mike was on the north side of San Marcos Island for a little while that morning and Ed Hogan from San Bruno was on his way to Tortuga but both turned back due to weather, but neither report seeing or hearing anything that day.
Unless something floats up or some other clue pops up it sure looks like a deep water landing. I remember the plane that was ditched in front of Tembabiche and except for the door nothing ever floated up on that plane.
We did see and hear a lot of planes yesterday and today in front of San Lucas Cove from Chivato to Santa Rosalia.
Really sad:no:

capt. mike - 11-2-2006 at 04:10 PM

yes Jim, sad but true comment. it is valuable input.

[Edited on 11-3-2006 by capt. mike]

Elena La Loca - 11-2-2006 at 09:47 PM

Okay, I can't just sit here and read this any longer. I gotta do something!

I gave a sit rep to Ralph XE2/N6MNO at Rancho Santa Ines this morning when I spoke to him on 40 meters after I had completed my net control duties on the Baja Maritime Net. He will pass the info on to anybody who flies/drives thru Rancho Santa Ines and may be going thru the area presumed as a flight path.

Don't ask me why I didn't I think to tell everybody on the Baja Maritime Net. I don't have an answer for that but I do have an offer of something I can do to help.

I will put out a QST tomorrow morning (and Saturday and Sunday) on the Baja Maritime Net so that everybody in Baja who checks into the net will be aware of the situation. I know that Ronnie, XE2/N7KVJ is already south of the origination point of this flight (he & Renee are south of Loreto and going further south mañana) and Janice XE2/KG6RSL and Jay XE2/KG6RSM are south of Bay of LA and may be in the Isla San Marcos area if my memory serves me correct. There may be other boaters/travelers who are listening to the Net that don't have the license to transmit on 40m so a QST right before (and maybe AFTER) the weather would be a good idea. (fyi, Don, N6HG, gives a FABULOUS weather report at 0815 Pacific time and we're currently on 7.259mHz due to foreign broadcast on 7260mHz)

Let's all PRAY that this is resolved soon.

Close to home

thebajarunner - 11-2-2006 at 10:46 PM

I have closely followed this because I too am a pilot, and my daughter flies for the airlines,
but, not until I read today's local paper did I realize that they live right next to us in Escalon.
Local people.
Does not change the level of tragedy, just brings it even closer to home.

capt. mike - 11-3-2006 at 04:10 AM

Elana!! mil gracias for your help passing the word. i am going to pass it on to the Tostes (their family).

i sent WB an email yesterday too. we'll talk later.

a friend in El Cahon who got hit good on the mulege flood needs a 34 footer pulled down and wants to hire someone. Thought Bill might want to do it and i could fly him home as part of the deal.

[Edited on 11-3-2006 by capt. mike]

Elena La Loca - 11-3-2006 at 10:01 AM

Propagation was great this morning and I put out the QST on both the Baja Maritime Net and the Wheels 'N' Keels net (precedes the Baja Net each morning & also meets each evening for c-cktail hour shenanigans 5pm Pacific). Ronnie XE2/N7KVJ & Renee are already down to La Paz but confirmed that they heard the QST 100%. Janice XE2/KG6RSL didn't check in this morning so I'm still not 100% certain about her whereabouts...I'm pretty sure she & Jay are in the Isla San Marcos area (for all I know they coulda been just listening while busy in the galley). Patrick, XF1GSD, at Pto Lopez Mateos heard it and will disseminate the info from there. Ralph XE2/N6MNO said that he told Terrible Herbst air support crew as they paused at Rancho Santa Ines yesterday and will continue to mention it to travelers (air or auto) who are southbound. I'll make the QST again tomorrow & Sunday. In the meantime, we'll keep praying.

Missing in Mexico

BajaNews - 11-3-2006 at 09:58 PM

http://tracypress.com/content/view/5319/2/

Sam Matthews
03 November 2006

Former Tracy residents Gary and Peggy Toste Thomas flew to Cabo San Lucas to help in a hurricane's aftermath. But their single-engine plane was last seen over Baja in bad weather, and no one has heard from the couple in 10 days.

American bush pilots have been searching the Baja Peninsula of Mexico and the Gulf of California for the past week for a single-engine plane carrying former Tracy residents Gary and Peggy Toste Thomas.

But so far, there has been no sign of the Bonanza aircraft that is believed to have taken off from the airport at Cabo San Lucas on Oct. 23 in the face of Hurricane Paul.

“It’s been 10 days, and we just don’t know what happened to the plane,” Peggy Thomas’ father, Joe Toste of Tracy, said Thursday. “We have been hoping something would turn up, but so far — nothing.”

The air search for the plane is being carried out by four American pilots who earlier had flown to Mulege, about a third of the way down the 600-mile-long Baja Peninsula, Toste said. Don Johnson, owner of a hotel near where the Thomases have a vacation home in Mulege, is organizing the search, he reported.

“Johnson, a pilot, told me they would continue looking for the plane for at least another five or six days, but it’s a big area,” Toste said. “The plane could have gone down on the Baja Peninsula or in the Gulf of California between Baja and the Mexican mainland. We just don’t know.”

Toste said he last heard from his daughter, who lives in Escalon, on Oct. 23. She told him the plane had taken off from the landing strip at Mulege to head home. The couple had flown there three days earlier to deliver food and water to locals following an earlier hurricane.

“Peggy told me that after they had taken off, they turned back in the face of the storm,” he said. “They couldn’t get gas at San Felipe, farther north, so they back-tracked to Cabo San Lucas farther south on the Baja Peninsula and would wait a couple of days for the weather to clear.”

Apparently, the plane stayed on the ground for only several hours before taking off again and heading north, the Tostes have learned.

Toste said his daughter, 45, and her husband, 52, had their last radio contact in the mid-Baja Peninsula area with two American pilots who also had headed north and then turned south because of the storm.

“Gary told one of the pilots he was increasing altitude to 4,000 to 5,000 feet to get out of the turbulence, and that’s the last they heard from him,” Toste said.

Toste said he and his wife, Evelyn, didn’t become concerned until they hadn’t heard from their daughter for three days. And that’s when he called Johnson in Mulege and the American consulate in Tijuana.

Toste also contacted the U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego. A Coast Guard officer told him they would have cutters on the lookout in the Pacific Ocean off Baja, but that the Mexican Navy had jurisdiction in the Gulf of California, and he would notify them of the missing plane.

Toste also contacted a helicopter company in San Diego but was told that the problems of providing fuel and other logistics for a search that could take several weeks made it impractical.

“I thought about going down there, but I don’t know the territory or what I could do there,” Toste said. “Our hopes lie with the bush pilots flying out of Mulege. I hear from Johnson several times a day, but they haven’t found anything. It’s been a hard time for Evelyn and me as the days go by without knowing.”

Gary Thomas, a partner in several Del Taco restaurants, has been flying for about four years. He and his wife have made numerous trips to Baja.

Peggy Toste Thomas is a native of Tracy and a 1979 graduate of Tracy High School. She has been office manager for JT Storage, a family-owned business near the Toste family home in northwest Tracy. She has two children from a previous marriage, Joseph Fagundes, 19, and Samantha Fagundes, 14.

The Thomases, who have been married for the past 10 years, lived in Tracy before moving to Escalon two years ago.

Volunteers Search In Mexico For Missing CA Couple

BajaNews - 11-3-2006 at 10:00 PM

Nov 3, 2006

(AP) ESCALON, Calif.. Volunteers joined the search in Mexico for a couple who never arrived in the San Joaquin Valley after they flew their private plane from a Baja California airstrip nearly two weeks ago.

Gary Thomas, 52, and Peggy Thomas, 45, previously lived in Escalon, near Modesto, before moving to Mulege, Mexico, two years ago.

Family in Stanislaus County reported the couple missing after they didn't arrive Oct. 23.

The couple left a private airstrip at Hotel Serenidad and said they were headed for the United States, said Don Johnson, the hotel's owner.

"Unfortunately, they had a bad start," Johnson said. "There was real bad weather. There was a lot of lightning."

U.S. Customs officials said the couple's plane did not enter the country through any points of entry.

A search team planned to continue to look for the missing couple or their Beech P35 single-engine plane until Saturday, said Claudia Smith, who was coordinating volunteers.

missing.couple.jpg - 17kB

S.J. couple's plane disappears in Mexico

BajaNews - 11-4-2006 at 03:18 AM

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061104...

By Jake Armstrong
November 04, 2006

TRACY - It's been 12 days since the family of Gary and Peggy Toste Thomas last heard from the Escalon couple whose single-engine plane left a dirt airstrip in Baja California as Hurricane Paul spun toward the peninsula.

The family believes the couple left Mulege, Baja California, on Oct. 23 after delivering food and water to residents in the tiny coastal village recovering from a previous hurricane.

But the couple's plane disappeared somewhere over the peninsula or the Sea of Cortez shortly after Gary radioed two other pilots who were also escaping a nearby storm to say he was ascending to dodge turbulence.

Now, the family of Peggy Toste Thomas is waiting in frustration as search parties scour land and sea for signs of the missing couple's plane.

"It's really been kind of a nightmare going through all this stuff," said Rod Toste, Peggy's 48-year-old brother.

The Mexican government on Friday asked the U.S. Air Force to join in the search, which was being conducted by the Mexican navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and private pilots who frequent Mulege, the Toste family said.

"We're just waiting. We don't have any more news," said Evelyn Toste, Peggy Toste Thomas' mother. "It's just been kind of frustrating."

The couple, which had lived in Tracy before moving to Escalon a year ago, had a small vacation home in Mulege and flew there often since Gary Thomas bought the plane about three years ago, Rod Toste said. Their latest trip began Oct. 20 as Hurricane Paul grew in intensity off the southwest coast of the peninsula.

Details are sketchy about what happened when they left on Oct. 23, gleaned mainly from information other pilots have provided, the family said.

Rod Toste said the Thomases probably headed south from Mulege to a larger city to refuel before retracing the first leg of their usual route through San Felipe, San Diego and back to Stockton Metropolitan Airport, where their plane was hangared.

But a storm forced them to turn back to Mulege before they reached San Felipe. Instead of staying on the ground, family members believe the couple left again a few hours later and disappeared.

On Monday, the family called a hotel in Mulege run by a pilot who knew the Thomases. They were told the couple had not been seen since they left in their plane a week before, Rod Toste said. Based on the pilots' information, Rod Toste believes the couple's plane likely disappeared about 200 miles north of Mulege.

"They left the second time, and that's the last time we heard from them," he said. "We were under the impression that they were going to stay there and ride it out."

Peggy Toste Thomas, who helped run her family's storage business in Tracy, has two children, a 16-year-old daughter who attends high school in Stockton and a 19-year-old son in college, Evelyn Toste said. Gary Thomas runs Del Taco franchises in the area.

The Toste family holds hope the search will find the pair alive.

"We're keeping our fingers crossed," Evelyn Toste said.

capt. mike - 11-4-2006 at 05:34 AM

recent BBP aerial search efforts:

"Seach Update, November 3

I have just gotten back from Mulege. We had four aircraft in the air searching for the past two days. We flew two-three hour flights on Wednesday and one-two hour flight and one-three hour flight on Thursday. Total time in the air for the four aircraft in direct search was about 46 hours. This does not include trips to either Loreto or Guaymas for fuel several times.

The search was at both Bahia de las Angeles and the area around Punta Chivato & Santa Rosalia. All areas were searched at least twice by different aircraft in different grids.

The search aircraft are as follows:

Baja 1: Jack McCormick with spotter Joe Puchi. (Arizona)
Baja 2: Don Rake with spotter Pam Rake, (California and Mulege)
Baja 3: Terry Rahe, (Oregon) with spotters Dave and Bobbie Powers, (Montana & Mulege)
Baja 4: Jerry Chandler, (California) with spotter Ron Polley (Idaho)

Bahia de las Angeles.
We had been informed of an ELT signal from that area prior departing Chandler and were told about it again at San Felipe. When getting close to that area, we heard the ELT and, in talking to one of our search aircraft who was at about 5,000’ they indicated that they believed the signal was from one of the two aircraft parked on the ground at Bay of LA. We landed Bay of LA and determined that a 206 on the ground was transmitting the signal. We were able to turn it off and left a note for the owner.

When on the ground, a taxi driver at Bay of LA told us that on the day of the disappearance, during what they called the storm of the century, i.e. lighting, thunder, driving rain, etc. they heard the sound of an aircraft and then the engine noise stopped. They indicated that it sounded like it was on the mountain just west of the city.

Because of this information, two of us did a full search of the mountain from its start on the north end to about 10 miles south of the city. One aircraft started at the top (about 6,000) and the other started at ground level. We increased (or decreased) our elevation about 600 feet every pass. After a two hours period, the area was covered and we went on down to Palo Verde to discuss how to cover the next area.

Palo Verde.
Because of information from pilots who talked to the missing aircraft and the location that the pilot indicated he was at, we set up four grids from Mulege to highway 1 north of Santa Rosalia. All four aircraft worked their grids from north to south. When this was completed, we changed grids and searched again, this time going from east to west. Additional grids were set which included the above areas as well as the islands and the beaches from Mulege to about 40 miles north of Santa Rosalia.

We found no signs of the aircraft, wreckage, burn spots, etc. on the ground or along the beach.

This morning, we were informed that the Mexican Navy had sent in a helicopter(s) as well as made a formal request for help from the US Coast Guard to work on the search. In addition, we have been told that the family has hired a helicopter from the states to participate in the efforts.

We have provided specific information on where we have searched which will be passed on to the Navy. This information is on a CH22 chart at the Serenidad. If you have done a detailed search in an area (not just a look see as you pass over) please mark the area that you searched on the chart."


well, they're doing all they can. The BBP is quite an ORG!!

Summanus - 11-4-2006 at 07:10 AM

Capt. mike, you are to be commended for all your efforts on the Thomas's behalf..and also that great club, the BBP.

We have made the flight from California to Baja Sur in small planes many times over the years...2 or 3 in a friend's Bonanza 35...and realize it is a huge search you have undertaken. Our hopes and prayers are with all the Thomas family and all the people involved in this mission.

I have been reading some of the reports on BBP about the search. I guess that report on BBP of smoke/steam in the mountains west of LA Bay on Oct 23rd has been checked out as per your post above?

[Edited on 11-4-2006 by Summanus]

Bruce R Leech - 11-4-2006 at 07:46 AM

Mike are they going to continue searching?

capt. mike - 11-4-2006 at 08:06 AM

i think Jack and the 4 planes this week searched that area well.

just to clarify - i have not been involved with a search, only reporting what i hear/know. The kudos go to the BBP and those who have donated time and money/via AC resources to help find them.

i believe they didn't make land. in that event it not a good outcome.

we are still in disbelief over this - if you knew those two you'd understand the despair over this. the family will have a tough one on this.

i likely will be in mulege next weekend if my plane is available. if not i'm headed elsewhere.

sayonara - 11-4-2006 at 10:27 AM

that is too sad. I hope they are found soon. Please keep us posted of any developments.

Good luck!