Gerhard Patigler, known as Gary, was 68 when he and his wife Ingrid left Wolf Lake in Palmer, Alaska, on June 20, 2009, in their personal red, white, and gold V-tail Bonanza, registration N7062N. They were headed to Whitehorse, Canada, with an ultimate destination of Indiana. The last radar contact was near Middleton Island; a pilot later reported seeing an aircraft matching their description heading northeast through the Nizina Valley. After that the couple and their airplane disappeared.

A large multiagency search followed, led by the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and the Alaska State Troopers, with Canadian authorities searching their portion of the route. The official search was suspended on July 17, 2009, after exhaustive air and ground efforts found no trace. Cell phone records suggested the aircraft may have reached as far as Northway, Alaska, before the signal stopped. The NTSB concluded the cause is unknown; the plane remains missing and the aircraft’s older 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitter would not have been detected by current satellites. The family conducted private searches but many questions remain.

If anyone was near the flight path in late June 2009 or has information about sightings of N7062N, please share what is known.