EdgeTech High-Res Sonar Facilitates Missing Aircraft Discovery

A side scan sonar technology from EdgeTech, a developer high resolution sonar imaging systems and underwater technology, has proved instrumental in helping to locate an aircraft that has been missing for over fifty years.  

In 1971 a plane departed from Burlington International Airport bound for Providence RI but crashed enroute, presumably in Lake Champlain.

Searches were carried out at the time of the crash, but weather made the operations difficult.  In subsequent years many other searches were completed to no avail. 

In May 2024, utilizing pieces of information from prior surveys, Garry Kozak, along with Hans Hug, Tim McDonald and Bruce Stebbins, did a search for the missing Rockwell Jet Commander employing a high resolution EdgeTech 4125i Side Scan Sonar. 

The Rockwell Jet Commander was successfully located and imaged with almost photographic resolution, according to EdgeTech.

EdgeTech’s 4125i Side Scan Sonar System was designed with both the Search & Recovery (SAR) and shallow water survey communities in mind. The 4125i utilizes EdgeTech’s Full Spectrum CHIRP technology, which provides two dual simultaneous frequency sets ideal for maximizing range and resolution during searches.

A more detailed narrative surrounding the events of this fateful 1971 plane crash and the ensuing years of search will be printed in the coming months, the company said.