Donald P. Schaller was 49 and an experienced pilot from Quincy, Illinois, when he took off from Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan, at 6:31 p.m. on July 3, 1998. He was flying a two-seat Aero L-39 Albatros with 57-year-old flight instructor Donovan Rodriguez of Northwestern Michigan College aboard for a practice run ahead of the National Cherry Festival Air Show. Schaller’s last radio call came at about 6:44 p.m., reporting he was 27 miles northeast of the airport; radar lost primary contact at 6:47 p.m. near South Fox Island, roughly 31.1 miles from the Traverse City VOR. A fast-moving unidentified target was briefly tracked about 9 miles north of South Fox Island shortly after the jet disappeared from radar.

A large search began that night and covered roughly 2,300 square nautical miles of Lake Michigan, using Coast Guard helicopters with night vision, a Canadian C-130, and the Blue Angels support plane Fat Albert. No wreckage, debris, oil slick, or bodies were found, and the official search was suspended on July 9, 1998, with authorities concluding the aircraft was likely in deep water. Sonar searches continued in later years; a 2008 sonar contact at over 450 feet has not been identified as the jet. Who has information about that evening, the flight, or leads on the plane’s possible location?