Photo courtesy of: Grand Canyon National Park
There is still no sign of a missing man who disappeared over the Grand Canyon National Park in his self-constructed plane on March 14.
According to a National Park Service (NPS) press release, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department (CCSD) determined that Joseph Radford, 47, of Glendale took off in his RV6 Kit Built, cherry red airplane from Grand Canyon Airport on March 11.
Now, over a week after Radford’s disappearance, the NPS continues to search the area in which they believe he went missing — the northwest side of the park. However, Shannan Marcak, public affairs specialist for Grand Canyon National Park, said hazardous weather conditions brought the search to a temporary halt over the weekend.
“Weather for the last 36 hours hasn’t been extremely cooperative for aerial search operations,” Marcak said.
After a week of no results, the park is now focusing on finding people who either saw or heard anything that may allow them to alter their search area. Marcak said they have been trying to contact backpackers and river trip groups who may have been in the area at the approximate time Radford’s plane went missing. According to a press release, multiple hikers have confirmed there was a plane flying in the general area and time where the emergency locator transmitter pinpointed the plane. One hiker even mentioned seeing a red plane — the color of Radford’s aircraft. While NPS has been able to talk to a few hikers, Marcak said most of the people they are interested in contacting are just now getting out of the canyon.
“The focus of investigation is critically important to us right now because we need to figure out if there is anywhere else we can — or should — be looking that we don’t know about,” Marcak said.
It took several days for the police and the NPS to associate Radford’s disappearance with the vanishing plane.
While it has been confirmed Radford was seen with his plane at Grand Canyon Airport the morning of March 11, no one thought anything of it at the time.
On March 13, a pilot detected an activated emergency locator transmitter — a tracking system that follows aircrafts, boats and people in distress through an international satellite system. But still, the missing plane was not linked to Radford because he was not reported missing until the following day when CCSD received a missing person report for him and notified NPS of the claim.
Once the connections were made, a more extensive search immediately started.
NPS sent planes and helicopters to search high and low over the northwest side of the park, touching base with various areas including the Scorpion, Fossil and Dragon Corridors, as well as Scorpion Ridge, with no success.
NPS is continuing to search for the missing plane as weather abides.
Continue to check NorthernArizonaNews.com for updates on the missing pilot and plane.
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