MISSING SINCE 1968: Cutting-edge maritime technology used to find missing plane

What was once lost, might be found using new groundbreaking technology. A plane that went missing over Lake Superior in 1968, finds new efforts.

Think of a drone but on the water. Not under the surface, nor is it hovering from above.

Instead, it's bobbing on the water, using sonar to search below.

“To summarize it in one word, it's really efficiency,” said Travis White, a Research Engineer at Michigan Tech University.

It’s called an autonomous surface vessel, ASV for short. Owned by Ocean Infinity , the ASV is currently housed at the Great Lakes Research Center of Michigan Technological University, in Houghton, Michigan.

Michigan Technological University

“It was designed with nowhere for a person to sit on it,” explained White. Meaning, it’s an unmanned vessel in the largest freshwater lake in the world.

If it works, it'll revolutionize how maritime discoveries are made. “[What] we'll be testing on this mission is an on-board gyroscope, which will help to stabilize the role of the vessel and keep it level as we're conducting the survey,” emphasized White.

At about 26 feet long, the ASV is equipped with everything a shipwreck hunter may need.

“A wide array sonar system that has a lot of depth and width coverage as a vessel makes it survey lines,” said White. While drifting along Lake Superior's surface, White says it can see everything below.

Michigan Technological University

“Using the sonar with the high resolution does create an image like quality rendering of the lake bottom," explained White.

Great Lakes Research Center is about to send it out, for its inaugural discovery. Hoping to find something that has been sunken in the deep, since 1968.

“The airplane was a beech craft 6580 Queen Air," explained Wayne Lusardi, Maritime Archaeologist for Michigan's DNR.

Three souls were on board when the plane crashed on October 23rd, 1968. All 3 men, Robert Carew, Gordon Jonesm, and Velayudh Krishna were never found.

The 3-manned crew was measuring the temperature of Lake Superior for the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Flying only 50 feet above the lake's surface.

“A little after noon on the 23rd they made radio contact with Houghton County Airport, and that was the last anybody ever heard from them," explained Lusardi.

The search following the crash lasted weeks. With only minimal debris having washed ashore.

"The airplane itself and the main part of the wreckage and the people that were on board have never been found," emphasized Lusardi.

Capital Times (1968)

An unsolved mystery for more than fifty years brings on theories. For Lusardi, there are two most promising conclusions on what happened.

"It's tiny pieces and parts. And so that would indicate one of two things, either that the airplane hit very, very fast and just obliterated across the lake surface. Or something else happening with the aircraft that created a catastrophic kind of failure of the entirety of the airframe," explained Lusardi.

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater body of water in the world. So finding anything, is a massive challenge.

“You have to have a really defined area to go look, and that requires a lot of historic research," emphasized Lusardi.

That includes, shrinking your search area. “They (ASV's) can be deployed by small teams. I think we're going to see these continue to be utilized by our scientists and researchers," explained White.

The Daily Mining Gazette (1968)

Travis White says he's excited for the expedition. "We're very excited to be kind of at, you know, the leading edge of trying to bring this technology to the Great Lakes region," emphasized White.

If the state-of-the-art machinery works the way it should, teams on the shore would receive a high resolution map of the lake.

“What we're trying to do is demonstrate the use case for this technology and apply it to some some very easy challenges that everybody can kind of understand and get their minds around,” said White.

More importantly, if the plane is found, something more can come to a decades-long Michigan Mystery.

“I think providing them even with just a little bit of information can help with this sense of closure and give some solace to the families," explained Lusardi.

Green Bay Press-Gazette (1968)

The search for the plane is happening on September 3rd and will continue throughout the week. You can tune in to the press conference at 9 am on September 3rd via Zoom. Click here to join the Zoom.

Stay with FOX 17 for updates, as to whether the 1968 plane is found.

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