The National Park Service, along with local authorities near the Grand Canyon, are searching for a small aircraft that hasn't been seen, or accounted for, since last Friday. The plane is believed to have gone missing in a remote region of the park, although no traces of it have been found so far.
Last Sunday, a small aircraft flying over the park contacted the Grand Canyon Airport to inform them that he had detected an active Emergency Locator Beacon in a region about 30 miles from the Grand Canyon Village. The NPS then scrambled a helicopter to search the region, but found no traces of a downed plane, nor did they pick up the call from the beacon. Without nothing else to go on, they called off the search, and returned to the airport, unaware of any missing planes.
The following day, the family of 47-year-old Joseph Radford called local police in Glendale, Arizona to alert them that the man hadn't been seen since March 11th when he flew from Glendale to the GC Airport, where he stopped to refuel. After that, he set off again, and hasn't been seen since.
Since that time, the NPS has been sweeping a 600 square mile area of the park with helicopters and search planes looking for any trace of Radford or his missing plane. The search has mainly taken place in the Fossil Corridor and Scorpion Ridge area of the Grand Canyon, which is one of the more remote sections of the park. So far, that search hasn't turned up any evidence that the plane went down there, but due to thick foliage, it is possible that it is there, but it can't be seen.
Weather conditions have deteriorated today, which has hampered the search, but there are plans for an ongoing SAR operation, both from the air and on the ground.
Thanks to Bruce from 360 Adventures for passing this story my way. Lets hope for the best!
