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Experts believe that they have found the wreckage of a corporate private jet 200 feet below the surface in Lake Champlain in Vermont that fatefully crashed more than 50 years ago.
The private plane, with the registration N400CP, disappeared shortly after taking off from Burlington en route to Providence, Rhode Island, on Jan. 27, 1971.
Pilots Donald Myers and George Nikita along with passengers Richard Windsor, Robert Williams and Frank Wilder were onboard the 1971 flight.
Despite 17 separate attempts – spanning decades – the wreck was never found.
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The side of plane wreckage in Lake Champlain identified by undersea search expert Garry Kozak as N400CP, a plane that crashed in January 1971 after taking off. (Garry Kozak via AP)
But the jet’s crash site was unearthed last month by underwater searcher Garry Kozak and a team of researchers.
Kozak said that the team used sonar imaging to confirm the plane’s custom paintwork matched the missing jet.
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“With all those pieces of evidence, we’re 99% absolutely sure,” Kozak told NBC 10 Boston.
Following the historical find, families were left with mixed feelings.
“To have this found now … it’s peaceful feeling, at the same time it’s a very sad feeling,” Barbara Nikitas, niece of pilot George Nikita, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. “We know what happened. We’ve seen a couple of photos. We’re struggling I think with that now.”
Tree growing from rock, Lake Champlain, Vermont. (Photo by: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Frank Wilder’s father, also Frank Wilder, was a passenger on the plane.
“Spending 53 years not knowing if the plane was in the lake or maybe on a mountainside around there somewhere was distressing,” said Wilder, who lives outside of Philadelphia. “And again, I’m feeling relieved that I know where the plane is now but unfortunately it’s opening other questions and we have to work on those now.”
Debris from the plane was initially found in the spring of 1971 at Shelburne Point, Vermont, after the ice melted from the lake, Kozak said.
Kozak and a team of researchers were the first to make significant headway in the investigation into the missing plane from 1971.
A representative for the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed it was investigating information it received.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration for comment.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
She is a native of Massachusetts and is based in Orlando, Florida.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X: @s_rumpfwhitten.
