Missing Learjet From '96 Found

A forester surveying remote, private land in New Hampshire on Thursday found the wreckage of a Learjet missing since Christmas Eve 1996. Correspondent David Robichaud of CBS Station WBZ-TV in Boston reports.

The landowner first informed the families of the pilots via the Internet, then told authorities about the discovery Friday.

Fish and Game Lieutenant David Hewitt said the crash site is in the town of Dorchester, about 20 miles from Lebanon Airport. He also said there was no voice or data recorder on the plane. A medical examiner is preparing to remove the pilots' remains.

Pilots Johan Schwartz, 31, and Patrick Hayes, 30, both of Connecticut, were trying to land at Lebanon Airport in poor weather when the plane dropped from radar. Their relatives were in Wentworth Saturday.

Investigators hiked deep into the forest Saturday morning to reach the wreckage.

The woods are so dense, it's difficult to stand erect. The area is littered with trees and limbs that fell down in the massive ice storm that hit the area early last year.

Hewitt said searchers had gotten fairly close to the area previously. The landowner said he was a few hundred yards from it several weeks ago, but saw nothing.

Hundreds of volunteer searchers, pilots and hunters scoured the surrounding wooded, mountainous terrain for the plane since it disappeared.