Donald H. Major, a 49-year-old prominent farmer, businessman and former mayor of Kilbourne, vanished on November 4, 1983, after a short flight from Vicksburg, Mississippi. He had flown his blue and white single-engine Cessna 177 Cardinal, registration N34452, to Vicksburg that morning to pick up combine parts and was seen refueling and appearing unwell before departing between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. A teacher and her class later saw his plane overhead as they moved inside to escape the rain, but Major never arrived at his private airstrip in Kilbourne.

An intensive search by the West Carroll Parish Sheriff’s Office, volunteers and others lasted nearly two weeks but turned up no wreckage, no communication and no trace of Major or the aircraft. The case remains open and is officially classified Lost/Injured Missing. There is little concrete information beyond the flight timeline and the absence of evidence, leaving the circumstances of his disappearance unresolved.

Did anyone in the area at the time see Major’s plane or have information that could help explain what happened that rainy November day?