Searching, When Songbirds Ceased to Sing shares the why's, how's, and what's that evolved when experiencing a traumatic year-long search for a missing aircraft and occupants. It was October 28th, 1974 when brothers-in-law and the twin-engine Beechcraft Baron they were piloting, disappeared. The aircraft, serving as an air hearse was on its return flight from Gallup, NM. On board were a father and his two teenage daughters involved in a fatal car/train accident being transported to their hometown of Sturgis, SD. When failing to arrive as scheduled, Rapid City Flight Control issued a Missing Aircraft Alert to all surrounding airports. With no sightings or landings reported, the alert was broadened to include all airports in a six-state area, and an extensive air search was actively underway.
