In 1968, a plane carrying three people went missing in Lake Superior. On Thursday, an unmanned autonomous surface vessel was deployed in Houghton on a search to find it.
The effort is a partnership between state agencies, companies and universities, including Michigan Technological University, where a press conference for the deployment was held.
“The demonstration project will be using a 25-foot vessel that belongs to the company Ocean Infinity,” said David Naftzger, the executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers. “What it will be doing over the next week is traveling to the open waters of Lake Superior, hundreds of feet, of water using advanced sonar technology to scan and search to the bottom of Lake Superior to try to find this plane that went down.”
The plane in question is a small National Center for Atmospheric Research plane carrying three people. The plane had two pilots, Robert Carew and Gordon Jones, and a University of Wisconsin graduate student, Velayudh Krishna.
It disappeared in October 1968 after losing contact with Houghton Municipal Airport, flying over Lake Superior.
“There have been efforts over the years to try to find this plane and answer the question of what happened to these three men, but none of them have been effective in locating the wreck or answering that question,” Naftzger said. “This new technology allows us to cover a far greater distance with far greater precision, so it's the best chance ever to try to locate these three men and the plane that they were in.”
The ship took 6-12 months to build, according to Naftzger. It’s a collective effort by the Great Lakes Smart Ships Coalition, a group whose members include companies, universities and state agencies. “This autonomous vessel can operate 24 hours a day in hazardous conditions and go and create an effective search in a large area. So, we're really excited about what the technology. Can do and this is a demonstration or proof of concept,” he said.
Naftzger hopes the vessel’s mapping technology will be effective enough for further usage, saying it was the first of many demonstrations.
“Other applications include precision surveying, that can be used to do more efficient dredging and harbor maintenance, underwater infrastructure inspection, fish surveys, and a variety of others. We're really looking to establish the Great Lakes as the place where freshwater autonomous research happens,” Naftzger said.
Daily updates on the search will be provided on YouTube Tuesday through Friday at noon, 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
