Quick update. We continue to prepare for our next trip to Venezuela to conduct investigative interviews, fly simulation routes and try out our geotagging camera capabilities. We currently have raised $2900 against our target of $6700 for the trip estimates and will continue with our fund raiser until we have sufficient funds to return without going into debt. Thanks to everyone who is helping. In the mean time, we continue to work through the data we have and develop our search strategy for the next trip. We have several new equipment sponsors that are helping us prepare and we continue to develop our Aerial Camera Platform (ACP-2). Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to being able to return . . . Bob Edwards The Norton Search Team...
As you know, we have been working on the search for Bob and Neiba Norton and their passengers, Gladys Zerpa, Flora Mujica and her daughter Juli andPaulina Neri and her infant son Eddi for more than 2 ½ years now. Our team of volunteers has collectively spent thousands of hours on the physical search, the investigative analysis and the development of search technologies that we hope will help us find the crash site in the Venezuelan jungle. Furthermore, the team is developing technologies and systems for this search that could also be invaluable in aiding future searches. Several of our team members are involved in search and rescue agencies beyond the Norton search. They are interested in its success, not only for its own sake, but for the sake of future searches. In addition, several engineering students fromTennessee Technological University are involved with the design of our Aerial Camera Platforms (ACP-1 and ACP-2), which are capable of scanning the jungle canopy for signs of the crash site. The next critical step for our team requires an investigator/pilot with specialized skills for locating missing aircraft. The objective of this investigator will be to research new and old leads and to fly possible routes Norton may have flown on Feb 16, 2009. Our team has determined possible routes by conducting numerous flight simulations, based partly on information from witnesses who came forward only after the original, intense air search. This upcoming trip will also lay the groundwork for bringing our ACP-2 to Venezuela after the first of the year, allowing us to conduct detailed searches of the jungle canopy in our...
The search for Bob Norton and the others who went missing in the jungles of Venezuela on Feb 16, 2009 continues on (see www.findingbobnorton.org for details). We are now conducting our fundraiser for the next trip to Venezuela scheduled for Oct 28 - Nov 5. The purpose of this trip is to take an investigator from the Missing Aircraft Search Team (M.A.S.T.) down to Venezuela to conduct video interviews with all available eyewitnesses and to investigate additional clues. We will also be taking high definitition images as we fly over the jungle on two possible routes Norton may have flown that morning. We will have 3 different types of cameras mounted to the Cessna 206 with some geotagging images of the jungle canopy. We will be using this data to further look for clues for the crash site and to help prepare for taking our search drone down after the first of the year. Our location and tracks on this next trip will be available to view on our website since we will have transponders on us keeping track of our whereabouts. If you would like to assist us with a tax deductible donation to help cover the expenses for this trip, we would appreciate your help. Just go to our website and follow the link for "Donations". Thanks as always, as we press ahead . . . Bob Edwards | Norton Search Team Lead Phone: 1-423-280-8217 | E-mail: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org WebSite:...
Back in June, some of the Norton Search team members attended the National Association for Search & Rescue (NASAR) annual conference in Sparks, NV. We presented the Norton Search effort there. Additional assistance came in the form of Tim Evinger, an experienced investigator joining the effort. Following the NASAR presentation we traveled to Yosemite in California to meet with John Dill and some of his team to conduct our second Search Summit. We worked on the development of our search plan and determined our next steps. Pictures are posted on our website of the events. ( http://findingbobnorton.org/pics scroll to the bottom of the pics to see the YOSAR and NASAR pics) We continue our efforts and hold bi-weekly Skype conference calls to coordinate the work being done. Currently we are working with two drone designs. One of them is primarily for use as a development platform for sensors, cameras and radar to be tested. The other is planned for taking to Venezuela to fly and scan over the jungle. It is our hope that the technologies we are developing for the Norton search, will also be useful for other searches in the future. We are planning to return with a small team to Venezuela in October to video interview all the key eyewitnesses and to fly simulations of possible routes Bob Norton may have flown. We will be taking high resolution images of the jungle canopy as we fly these routes looking for possible clues to where the plane may have gone down. All the information being gathered is going into a computer based search model. We now have...
Click on the link below to view a 6 minute long YouTube clip about the search for Bob Norton and the passengers on his plane. They went missing in the jungles of Venezuela on Feb 16, 2009 while on an emergency medical flight. Independent film producer Tim de la Torre put together this YouTube clip to help raise awareness about the search effort. Please forward this to anyone who may be interested and feel free to post on Facebook, MySpace or any other social media. If you would like to support the search effort, tax deductable donations can be made through OCI at www.outpostcenters.org . Make sure you mark your donations for Norton Search Effort. Thank you very much Bob Edwards | Norton Search Team Lead Phone: 1-423-280-8217 | E-mail: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org WebSite: www.findingbobnorton.org Click on the link below to view a 6 minute long YouTube clip about the search for Bob Norton and the passengers on his plane. They went missing in the jungles of Venezuela on Feb 16, 2009 while on an emergency medical flight. Independent film producer Tim de la Torre put together this YouTube clip to help raise awareness about the search effort. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv4LnAALNSA Please forward this to anyone who may be interested and feel free to post on Facebook, MySpace or any other social media. If you would like to support the search effort, tax deductable donations can be made through OCI at www.outpostcenters.org . Make sure you mark your donations for Norton Search Effort. Thank you very much Bob Edwards | Norton Search Team Lead Phone: 1-423-280-8217 | E-mail: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org...
Several of the volunteer Norton Search Team members here in the U.S. have been burning the midnight oil working on the design and development of a search drone and also with the search investigation work. Our team continues to grow, with additional engineers, scientists, pilots, search technicians, weather specialists and machinists, all bringing their expertise to the effort. We are gathering additional evidence related to the search effort that might help in any way with flight simulations and planning. The goal is to combine everything we know into a multi-layered computer model to help narrow down and determine the most critical zones to search next. We are including such things as; Norton's flight plans, communications, eyewitness accounts, ground and air search data, weather conditions at 15 minute intervals, multiple flight simulations, historical flight patterns from Bob's log books, physical constraints of the aircraft and terrain data into the model. Many pieces of intel are still being gathered from Venezuela and being interpreted. Our next big event is coming up in the first week of June. We are taking several members of the team to present the search effort to the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) at their annual conference in Sparks, Nevada. Following the presentation at NASAR we will be traveling to Yosemite to meet with members of National Park Service SAR teams to conduct our second Norton Search Summit. Team members attending these two events include: Bob Edwards – Team Lead JD Brown – Lead Analyst Edan Cain – UAV Team Lead Rick Slatten – Containment Analyst Dr. Garcia – Director of Venezuelan Civil Protection agency...
Greetings, We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you who have taken an interest in finding Bob & Neiba Norton and their airplane which disappeared from our lives two years ago. We have felt overwhelmed with the impossibility of ever finding the crash site in the dense jungle, and helpless to do anything about it. (If something different transpired we are still waiting for facts to back the rumors.) We appreciate Civil Protection of Venezuela for their active part in the search, way beyond the call of duty, and thank them for everything. As Bob Edwards has communicated to us the providential leadings in the formation of the search team we have felt overwhelmed by all of the hard work and contributions each of you have made. This search effort is something larger than we ever imagined, and we pray that all you are doing won't be in vain. Since we do not know everyone who has been involved and continues to work on this project we've asked Bob Edwards to pass on our thanks by way of this letter to you. Words are not adequate, but we want you to know that we truly appreciate each of you and your interest in finding answers to the disappearance of our family members. That so many people care means a lot. With Gratitude, The family of Bob and Neiba...
TWO-YEARS SINCE NORTONS DISAPPEARED: Memories The Norton and the Gates family go back a long way. Our parents were friends while we were still young. In 1980, after graduating from college I landed at Keene, TX for the General Conference session in Dallas, and Bob’s dad’s plane was on the ramp ready for the trip to Mexico. A few months later Elwyn Norton lost his life along with three others, in the mountains of Southern Mexico. In the mid-1980s, Bob and I worked together at the same small hospital and school in Southern Mexico where his parents had worked. Bob was director of maintenance. He could fix anything. Way back then he let me know that someday he wanted to fly. Nearly 20 years later, in early 2002, I met Bob at the Collegedale Airport. Very happy to see him, I asked him what he was doing. He told me that he was carrying out his dream, and was finally finishing his professional flight training, but he didn’t know what God had in mind after that. When he told me that he had just married Neiba, a Venezuelan Nurse, I immediately told him that Gospel Ministries International had just purchased an aircraft in Southeast Venezuela and invited him to pray about serving with his wife as pilot and nurse there. When he called me back a few days later to let me know of their acceptance, little did we know what a great impact that decision would have on thousands of people throughout Southern Venezuela and an inspiration to the world. He did indeed follow in his father’s footsteps....
Two years have now passed since Bob & Neiba Norton and the 5 others on the plane went missing on February 16, 2009. Not a day goes by without me missing my good friend. The search effort continues and is strong as new ideas and approaches have come into focus. Now with a team designing and building a search drone and another team working on the search investigation, mapping and planning, we have hope that when we return to Venezuela we will be able to locate the crash site. It is our plan to return after the rainy season this summer. To simply say thank you to the many team members who have come together to make this happen seems terribly insufficient. I can not express in words my true gratitude for those who have helped in the past and to those who are currently working to carry this search effort forward. God bless you for your dedication. Updates are posted regularly on our website: www.findingbobnorton.org ... and so we press ahead ... Bob Edwards Adding to what Bob Edwards has shared I too would like to say thank you to all who continue to work toward finding answers to what happened two years ago today. I still miss Bob and Neiba a bunch. Their lives have inspired many to serve others in whatever way God leads. I can yet hear Bob's words, "Do something to make a difference." We can't give up, not only regarding the search, but in whatever God has called us to. There are many lost in sin whom we need to find as well....
As most of you know Bob and Neiba Norton, along with five passengers, disappeared February 16, 2009, while on an emergency medical flight over the jungles of Venezuela. For the past two years, search efforts have taken family members, friends and search teams on an intense and challenging journey. At times the search effort has been focused, and things have moved forward steadily, and at others the apparent lack of direction and action have been extremely frustrating for many of us involved. However, through it all, the resolve and commitment of our U.S. Team and the Venezuelan Teams, has remained strong. During the past 8 months, I've sent out a few basic updates to let everyone know that we have not given up on trying to find Bob and the others. Until now, we didn't have enough pulled together to show everyone what we've been up to. Now, we will fill you in on what's been going .... We are designing and building an unmanned SEARCH DRONE to take to Venezuela, and use to scan the jungle areas where Bob may have gone down. Edan Cain has been developing flight and ground control software for such a drone, for the past couple of years, and has now joined efforts with us. We are also in discussion with a manufacturer of drones, that may be willing to build us a model with long range capability. The drone is being outfitted with cameras and sensors that are designed to help locate the plane under the jungle canopy,and can fly slow and low over the jungle and tirelessly fly map the jungle...
