After a week of stormy weather across the state, searchers hope to make a dive on Saturday to begin recovery efforts in the Great Salt Lake for what could be an overdue aircraft carrying two missing men.
The small plane — a red and white Cessna 172, tail number N4395R — took off from Ogden Hinckley Airport about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 29, but had not returned an hour later, as scheduled.
The families of pilot Denny Mansell, 71, and passenger Peter Ellis, 74, reported them missing about 9:20 that night, according to news releases from the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office.
Mansell and Ellis had planned to fly to the Promontory area to see the trains at the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Authorities launched an air and ground search that night, narrowed to a small section of the lake based on tips and an analysis of the radar data from the Cessna before the loss of its signal.
On Sunday, searchers “unequivocally” identified an object resting at the bottom of the Great Salt Lake as an aircraft of the general size and description as the one reported missing. It was under about 14 feet of water, the releases say.
Early in the week, problems with equipment and fog deterred efforts to recover the plane. Midweek storms — which made for slippery driving conditions and high avalanche danger in the mountains — extended the delay. Officials have set a tentative plan to resume the dive Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office.
Officials have said that family members are grateful for the assistance the public has been in the process of their search and have asked for privacy at this time.