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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Friday, December 21, 2012 INCIDENTS Yosemite NP Search In Progress For Missing Plane And Pilot A single-engine plane being flown by pilot N.W. was flying from Santa Barbara to the Mammoth Lakes Airport on the east side of the Sierra Nevada on Monday, December 17th, when it disappeared from radar near the North Dome area of the park. There were no passengers onboard. N.W. was reported missing by his family that evening after failing to arrive in Mammoth as planned. Search efforts were begun the next morning. Poor weather and lack of visibility hindered the air search; efforts to locate the plane via beacon receivers were unsuccessful. Several aircraft were able to search the area during daylight hours on Wednesday and Thursday, but no sign of the plane was found. Efforts to locate it are being impeded by a foot of fresh snow at higher elevations, with a winter storm forecast for Friday that will bring heavy snow and strong winds to the search area. It covers about 600 square miles in a rugged section of the park that is inaccessible by vehicle at this time of the year. Approximately 60 people are assisting with the air search, including search and rescue teams from the park, the California Highway Patrol, and the Civil Air Patrol. [Public Affairs Office] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/): Mesa Verde NP - The park opened its new visitor and research center this past Friday. The idea for a facility such as this one, located closer to the park entrance, has been around since it was first brought up in a superintendent's report in the 1930s. Great Smoky Mountains NP - Kevin FitzGerald, deputy superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, will retire on January 3rd after 34 years with the National Park Service. Rocky Mountain NP - Larry Frederick, chief of interpretation and education at Rocky Mountain National Park, will retire on January 3rd. Northeast Region - Virginia “Ginny” O'Brien, the lead fee program analyst for Northeast Region, will retire on January 25th after a 30-year career with the National Park Service. Jean Lafitte NHP&P - Carol A. Clark, superintendent of Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve and New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park since 2009, is retiring on January 3rd after 32 years with the National Park Service. Pacific West Region - Tom Fake, landscape architect with Pacific West Regional Office in Honolulu, will retire on December 31st after over 41 years with the National Park Service. * * * * The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |