Search Crews Scale Back Search For Missing RV-6 Pilot | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Fri, Mar 09, 2007

Search Crews Scale Back Search For Missing RV-6 Pilot

Plane Disappeared Near Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Aero-News has learned search crews on the ground and in the air have scaled back their search for a missing pilot, whose RV-6 disappeared from radar February 28 in the vicinity of Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas.

The National Park Service posted notice Wednesday it was halting its ground search in the area. Park staff and Texas Highway Patrol officers swept the ground for some sign of the fire-engine-red RV-6 piloted by Jim Willess, while Civil Air Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety aircraft flew overhead.

On Thursday, as many as 21 Civil Air Patrol aircraft from Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico were still reportedly flying grid patterns over the area... but many of those aircraft had departed the search coordination base at Carlsbad (NM) Municipal Airport by Friday afternoon, leaving independent crews to continue the search.

Tracking data obtained by ANN shows the plane's last Mode C return occurred at approximately 8000 feet MSL, on the west end of the Broke Off Mountains west of the park. The plane (shown below, registration N320TX) would have been approximately 2,000 feet above ground level at that point.

As Aero-News reported, Jim Willess departed California February 28, on a cross-country ferry flight to Virginia. No contact has been made with the pilot since. Willess is a former airline captain, with some 25,000 hours flight time logged in a multitude of aircraft.

FMI: www.cap.gov, www.nps.gov/gumo/

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC