Dr. James Edward Harbin, 38, vanished after a solo flight from a remote campsite near Lake Clark on September 13, 1976. He and a friend, Harold Lyle, had been hunting from a red and white Citabria, tail number N5VB, when the tail wheel was damaged. Harbin chose to fly the aircraft alone to Iliamna for repairs, leaving Lyle at camp with plans to return the next day.

Around 9:55 PM that evening Kenai flight services picked up a garbled mayday from Harbin reporting loss of altitude due to ice buildup on the wings. An extensive search of Lake Clark Pass and surrounding glaciated terrain followed, but neither Harbin nor the airplane was ever found. Searchers theorized the plane may have struck a mountainside or become buried in a glacier, accounting for the lack of wreckage.

Anyone who was in the Lake Clark area in mid-September 1976 or who has information about that flight is asked to come forward.