Extracted from The Lawton Constitution (Lawton, OK)
Former Tipton Man On Missing Airplane
TIPTON (Special) -- A former Tipton man, C. C. Hanes, and three companions from Dimmitt, Tex., are missing after their light plane failed to arrive at its destination last Wednesday, Oct. 18.
Piloted by Harold McCollum of Dimmitt, the plane failed to arrive in Salt Lake City on a flight from Cortez, Colo. Also aboard were Mart Booe and J. C. Jackson. McCollum is minister of the Hart, Tex., Church of Christ, and the others are officers of the church.
They left Dimmitt, Tuesday, Oct. 17, on the first leg of a trip to Vancouver, Canada for a conference on mission churches. They spent the night in Cortez, where McCollum visited his parents.
They left at 10 a.m. Wednesday after McCollum filed a flight plan calling for arrival in Salt Lake City at noon. The route was over mountainous and sparsely populated territory.
When the plane failed to arrive, Federal Aviation Administration officials began a radio survey of flight trips but could find no contact with the plane after it left Cortez.
Search planes were unable to take off until Friday due to bad weather and low ceilings. Aviation officials said visibility had fallen to zero in much of the search area.
They said a ground search along the route is impossible because of the rough terrain. Almost no roads exist.
Hope has not been lost, however, for the area contains plenty of level spots where a light plane could make an emergency landing. It would be out of radio contact with airports along much of the route.
McCollum, 53, is a veteran pilot and was noted for caution.
Hanes lived in the Laing community near here for many years. His brothers are Thurman Hanes of Tipton and Carroll Hanes of Manitou. Mrs. Robert Sturgess of Tipton is a sister.
The search continued Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with as many as 18 planes in the air.
Thursday, October 26, 1972