Terrain added to missing-pilot search

Limits pushed to Lake Greeson, Oklahoma line on possible sightings

As the search for missing Arkansas Forestry Commission pilot Jake Harrell continues, organizers are expanding the boundaries of the search area to include a growing number of possible sightings, a commission spokesman said Monday.

The search for Harrell, 34, began the afternoon of Jan. 31. Harrell was flying a routine detection flight over a portion of the Ouachita National Forest between Malvern and Wickes, observing the 100-mile stretch for signs of forest fires. When more than an hour passed without Harrell making radio contact with Forestry Commission flight dispatchers in Malvern, administrators began assembling ground search crews.

The search initially concentrated on a 100-squaremile area of the forest south of Oden, based on Harrell’s last contact with dispatchers, location data from nearby cellphone towers and a reconstruction of Harrell’sflight plan. Over the past week and a half, the search area has grown to reach as far south as Lake Greeson and as far west as the Oklahoma border, Forestry Commission spokesman Adriane Barnes said.

Barnes said search efforts on some of the outlying areas are driven by possible sightings of Harrell’s plane, a single-engine Cessna 210.

Barnes said searchers are investigating all tips.

“Basically, anything you or I get a call on is a possibility,”Barnes said.

Each day of the search, organizers have had 70 to100 searchers on the ground, often relying on four-wheelers and chain saws to make their way through the difficult forest terrain. During breaks in the bitter winter weather hitting the area, searchers have also had the help of multiple aircraft, including planes from nine Arkansas Civil Air Patrol squadrons and helicopters from the Arkansas State Police and the ArkansasAir National Guard.

Blake Sasse, a spokesman for the Arkansas Civil Air Patrol, said that the organization, which is considered an auxiliary component of the U.S. Air Force, has about 480 members in Arkansas. While the organization is essentially civilian, with members coming from “all walks of life,” many of its members are former military pilots, Sasse said.

Sasse said each plane carries a crew of three: a pilot, a navigator/communicator and a “scanner,” who keeps a constant lookout for possible signs of Harrell or his plane.

Sasse said the crews have been returning to their squadron bases, which are located in 11 cities throughout the state including Fort Smith and Hot Springs.

As search crews on the ground and in the air cover assigned areas, search organizers in Mena are compiling data from crews into advanced mapping systems and using the Internet to help comb through aerial photographs of the forest.

Barnes said that cartography experts in Mena have been using the Esri platform, which allows users to merge existing map data with new information from searchers. Kristian Underwood, a Winslow-based cartographer, said the software allows searchers to layer information from multiple sources onto maps and help maintain a record of which methods have been used to searchwhich areas.

Barnes said search organizers are also using Tomnod, an Internet-based service that allows volunteers to review images of the search area for possible signs of Harrell’s plane. By going to www.tomnod.com, an individual can view images captured by search planes over the Ouachita National Forest and tag any objects that appear to be aircraft, wreckage, or are otherwise unusual; search organizers then review the tags to decide whether to investigate the areas further.

Unfortunately, low visibility has made the collection of useful aerial images difficult, Barnes said.

Barnes said that although cloud cover throughout the area was too low and heavy to use fixed-wing aircraft in the day’s search efforts, crews were able to use an Arkansas State Police helicopter. Search organizers are not asking for volunteers in ground search efforts, because of the difficult terrain and harsh weather.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/11/2014

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