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Newspaper report
Posted by B Darnell on Fri Mar 26, 2004 03:07:57 PM
In reply top MiG-17 down in New Mexico? posted by Jim Church on Fri Mar 26, 2004 02:40:30 PM
March 25, 2004
Search Underway for Missing Airplane
The Associated Press
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES ? A search was under way Thursday evening for a single-engine airplane that disappeared from radar after the pilot made a distress call.
The Russian MiG-17 that had been converted to a civilian airplane was flying from Roswell to the Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix when the pilot advised of fuel transfer problems, state police Lt. Jimmy Glascock said.
Contact was lost at around 7:30 a.m. MST, Glascock said.
Aircraft from the New Mexico Civil Air Patrol and state police flew over the area around Truth or Consequences most of Thursday afternoon. Ground crews also searched.
That area was pinpointed based on the coordinates of the last radar signal received from the airplane, Glascock said.
The older fighter aircraft are often brought to the United States and converted into airplanes used for pleasure, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes. He would not comment on how many people were on board but said MiG-17s are typically one-person aircraft. Some have been converted to hold two.
The airplane was under a flight plan and 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.