Jet missing since 1971 found in Lake Champlain: see the wreckage

A small airliner that disappeared shortly after takeoff in Vermont in 1971 has been found at the bottom of Lake Champlain, researchers say.

The 10-seat Rockwell 1121 Jet Commander, registration number N400CP, was carrying five passengers when it left Burlington Airport and disappeared from radar screens en route to Providence, Rhode Island, on January 27, 1971. Initial searches were interrupted when the lake froze.

Starting in 2022, research teams used a remotely operated vehicle to conduct sonar surveys of the lake floor. Scans eventually revealed a debris field west of Juniper Island, about 3 miles west of Burlington.

The photographs showed a sunken plane fuselage with the same paint as the missing plane.

Where the Jet Commander was headed

“I'm just thrilled that we found it, and I'm really happy for the family members that are still here,” Garry Kozak, an underwater sonar expert who led the search, told USA TODAY .

Where was the missing, the jet was found

The cause of the accident is still unknown. The National Transportation Safety Board listed it as undetermined at the time, but will examine the newly discovered debris, officials told USA TODAY.

The plane was carrying two crew members and three employees of Cousins ​​Properties, a real estate company based in Atlanta.

The plane left the Burlington airport around 8 p.m. on a snowy evening. Flight controllers lost contact with the plane as it flew over the lake. No distress or other emergency signals were detected.

How the jet was found

Kozak and his team used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), provided by Sonar Search and Recovery, a sonar search and recovery service, according to Aviation International News.