By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 2, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A08
Calmer waters Wednesday permitted a boat search of Rhode Island Sound, but rescue crews came up empty-handed in their attempt to locate a commuter airplane that vanished last week with three crew members, including a Dumont man.
New Year’s Day was the first day that weather was good enough to allow a sonar-equipped boat to get to the area of the crash, about eight miles east of Block Island.
Rescuers had little hope of finding any of the three men alive.
Pilot John E. Murphy Jr., 28, of Dumont had been training pilots Michael Kane, 31, of Walden, N.Y., and Michael Lurie, 28, of Massapequa, N.Y., on the twin-engine turboprop aircraft when it disappeared Saturday.
A helicopter had patroled the area, but high seas had prevented a search by a boat owned by American Underwater Search and Survey Ltd. A lobster boat east of Block Island dredged up pieces of the aircraft Sunday, including a 30-foot section of the right wing, a fuselage section with seats, a door with stairs, and part of a bulkhead.
Another boat found a four-foot tail section on Monday about four miles south of Block Island.
ID: 17364948 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)
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