Bob Edwards

The Norton Search Team

423.280.8217

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 priority zones.

In preparation for the upcoming trip, our U.S. team members are in frequent communication with team members in Venezuela who are coordinating our itinerary. Most of our equipment is donated, loaned or purchased at a reduced rate, which keeps our overall operating expenses at a minimum. In the near future, however, we do need help with travel expenses. Many of us on the team offer whatever financial amounts we can to continue the search effort's forward motion. We initiated a fund raiser approximately one month ago, and our account now holds just over $2,000 as of 10/10/2011. The team needs at least $700 more to cover our travel expenses to and from Venezuela without incurring debt. We need an additional $4,000 for fuel and aircraft rental in order to conduct ALL of the interviews with key eye-witnesses and to fly the simulation routes throughout the jungle region.

If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile cause, any amount will be sincerely appreciated. We are completely a grass-roots organization, and we operate solely on donations, so we need every individual willing to offer their financial assistance. Even quantities of ten or twenty dollars will help if enough people will participate. Please donate (tax deductible donation) through Outpost Centers International, a non-profit agency who has graciously handled all of our donations since the search began. You can donate online at:

http://www.outpostcenters.org/getinvolved/donate

It is VERY important to mark your donations for “Norton Search Effort.”

Or you can mail your donation to:

Outpost Centers International

5340 Layton Lane

Apison, TN 37302 (Remember to mark for "Norton Search Effort")

Thanks once again to all who have helped with this effort and continue to do so. Feel free to call me personally for additional details if you would like and you can follow us on our web site at: www.findingbobnorton.org.

As we press ahead . . .

Bob Edwards | Norton Search Team Lead

Phone: 1-423-280-8217 | E-mail: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org

WebSite: www.findingbobnorton.org

Bob Edwards | Norton Search Team Lead

Phone: 1-423-280-8217 | E-mail: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org

WebSite: www.findingbobnorton.org

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 established our search effort as a non-profit organization named “The Norton Search Team, Inc.” Donations may be made directly to our organization or through OCI as in the past. We continue to need financial assistance in order to travel back down to Venezuela to conduct interviews and conduct searches and for the development of the search drone and associated technologies. Thanks to all who have supported in the past and to those who continue to support this effort. See our ”Special Thanks” page on our website for the many companies and organizations that are helping with this effort: http://findingbobnorton.org/special_thanks

As always...

Bob Edwards

Team Leader

The Norton Search Team, Inc

A Non-profit Organization

206 Lind St.

McMinnville, TN 37110

423.280.8217

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

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 for the Bolivar state

Andrehina Diaz – Coordinator for Bolivar's Civil Protection

Roberto Espinoza – Manager for Servicia Aero (State of Bolivar Aviation support)

Dan Cassidy – Event Coordinator

We will lay the groundwork for our modified containment analysis and begin planning our next trip to Venezuela.

We are also making steady progress on the development of the search drone. This is a very complex project in that we need to not only design, build and test the drone, we also must have permissions and permits in place before we take the drone to Venezuela. We are working with the governmental agencies to obtain clearance and guidance. The key elements of the search drone include; a test drone for development (see attached picture), a flight computer and programming flight controls and auto pilot functions, engine specification and purchase, flight stabilization, power demands for on-board sensors, communications from drone to base camp, GPS tracking, digital imaging in high def video, pics and infrared all with geo-tagging for location identification, collision avoidance, a sensor array and hopefully radar. We have many different team members working on the individual pieces of this project and we conduct weekly Skype conference calls to help with coordination of the effort.

In addition to all this work, the team has decided to establish a not-for-profit organization to continue this effort and to develop search drone technologies and field support operations that can be used for this and other search and rescue operations in the future.

I am continually humbled by the dedication of the team for this search effort for Bob, Neiba and the others. This team has conducted satellite image analysis, conducted a search summit, containment analysis, flight simulations, search planning, made two trips to Venezuela, met twice in Texas with Venezuelan search teams at Texas A&M, met with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Search and Rescue Technology team, and is currently working with Select Tech Services, a drone technology company. In addition we have conducted numerous interviews and followed countless leads as we pull together all the information available for the search plan.

Over the past two years many organizations have donated equipment and services to assist with the search effort. A “Special Thanks” page is included on our web site and their logos will be on the side of the drone to show our appreciation. In addition, people have donated much needed financial support to help with the search effort. Below is the breakdown of how those donations have been carefully used. We apply discounts like Delta “Buddy Passes” to fly to Venezuela and we stay at inexpensive hotels (one in La Paragua, Venezuela cost us $10/night) or at friends' homes on the couch or floor to save money. We appreciate the financial assistance that many of you have provided over the past two years. Here is a breakout, by category, of how the money has been spent.

+$24,067 Donations over past two years ($23,067 through OCI + $1000 not thru OCI)

-$3052 Support for supplies and expenses for ground search team in Venezuela

-$250 Equipment for processing satellite images (external hard drives)

-$1539 Search Summit I in Georgia (included two from Venezuela search team)

-$3229 Venezuela Trip 1 to investigate satellite image “points of interest”

-$4627 Venezuela Trip 2 to assist jungle search team in priority Zone D

-$1500 Assistance for Nytta Norton (Bob's mom) to go to Venezuela

-$612 Trip to Texas 1 to meet with Civil Protection leadership in 2009 (Search Planning)

-$586 Trip to Texas 2 to meet with Civil Protection leadership in 2010 (Drone Planning)

-$185 Trip to Select Tech in Dayton, OH (Drone design)

-$882 Trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (Radar / Drone presentation)

-$2305 Radar Drone design / development / build

-$534 Administrative expenses (Skype calls, copies, Paypal fees, website, etc.)

-$1260 Documentary expenses

$3500 Approximate amount remaining in OCI Search Account

Our up coming trip to Sparks, Nevada and Yosemite for the NASAR presentation and the Search Summit II in June will cost the team approximately $3200. In addition we need help with the expenses for the design and development of the search drone. We are asking for assistance from anyone who is able and willing to help and we appreciate any amount given for the effort. Please send your tax deductible donations to Outpost Centers International (OCI) through their website at www.outpostcenters.org or by mailing to 5340 Layton Lane, Apison, TN 37302. It is VERY important to mark the donation “Norton Search” so they will credit it to our account. Thanks in advance for your support.

You can follow the development of the drone, investigation, upcoming documentary and other activities on our website: www.findingbobnorton.org (follow the RED “update” links from the home page for our most recent activities).

And so with incredible dedication . . . this team presses ahead . . .

Bob Edwards

Drone prototype rear and side view

Top view of Drone Prototype

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 Norton

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. God used both Bob and Neiba to spread God’s love through GMI’s AMA program (Adventist Medical Aviation). In doing this they gave everything they had; their resources and their time. Then, two-years ago, they gave up even more.

On February 16, 2009, while on a routine flight, accompanied by Neiba, our secondary school director Gladys and four indigenous patients, the plane disappeared after departing from the small village of Karum. An intensive search for the airplane was immediately begun and included over 140 persons doing ground searches, the Governor’s helicopter, and high-resolution satellite images. Special thanks must be given to Celso Benavides, AMA’s indigenous ground search coordinator, and Bob Edwards, volunteer strategist and coordinator from North America. These two have never stopped in their efforts to locate the plane and/or the crew and passengers. Yet, in all these brave efforts no aircraft or accident site has yet been located. This is very unusual, especially in light of the fact that most aircraft that crash in the jungles of Southeast Venezuela have been found within a few days. The questions remains, “Where are Bob and Neiba Norton?”

Within a month of the plane’s disappearance, especially in the abnormal absence of any plane wreckage or bodies, I began to suspect that there might be some other factors involved in the disappearance. Having suffered a hijacking myself years ago in Mexico, I was convinced that such a scenario should not be ruled out, especially in an environment where there was highly vocal opposition to the growing influence of the loved AMA program.

Over the last years, GMI has assisted in funding the ground search teams and kept up monthly stipends to the AMA team. I have stayed in close communication with team leaders and regularly met with them in Venezuela to coordinate further search strategies. At the request of the Norton family, due to the pain of the unknown, I have not written regarding our work or any alternate explanations to the plane’s disappearance. During the entire time GMI has been deeply concerned over the loss of our missionaries, for the pain of their family members and has been quietly very active behind the scenes.

As I am writing this, it is the two-year anniversary of their disappearance and has been a tearful time of year for many of our GMI staff. We loved Bob, Neiba and Gladys, and we miss them greatly. Now, after one year of silence, it is time to share with you some of the findings and what direction the evidence has taken us.

After several months of searching for the missing plane, the team leaders and I met down in Venezuela to evaluate any information that might lead toward alternate explanations for the missing plane. Within a couple of days some significant leads begin to develop, including a phone call from a well-connected person stating that the plane had not crashed but had been forced to fly elsewhere. Further information came from several villages. Though the plane disappeared early in the morning, around 10am, several villages report having seen and heard the AMA plane flying overhead in the same direction, with the engine surging. Most villagers know our plane by the sound of its engine. Lately, it has been confirmed that the plane landed twice in a nearby town. The registration numbers on the plane were left untouched, but the blue stripe was painted with black. The pilot and three passengers on both occasions were clean-cut young people wearing identical shirts and dark glasses. The villagers with whom they were speaking state that they joked sarcastically about Bob Norton and the Adventist Medical Aviation program and that they now were going to take over the work of providing the medical flights themselves. Then they flew off. Further evidences ruling out a crash scenario include several phone calls from Gladys’ own cell phone to students and her own daughter and brother. Sometimes the caller was a male and sometimes female claiming to be in different parts of the country. If they had crashed in the jungles, there could have been no phone calls made from her cell phone.

The above information I can share as it is known publically. There are further pieces of information, some of which have been confirmed, others still to be confirmed, that cannot be shared at this time. When analyzing “chatter” the individual pieces of information may not be as important as the general direction to which they point. In evaluating the information, it is my opinion that nearly all the “chatter” points in only one direction, a hijacking.

Everywhere I have traveled in the world, I have encouraged people to pray for Bob, Neiba, Gladys and the patients who were aboard the plane. We don't know where they are now or what their condition is. If Bob and any of the passengers are still alive, their release back to us would only be through a miracle of Heaven. We do know that nothing can happen to them without God’s permission. We also know that God’s work in Venezuela is not finished but just beginning. Because of this painful situation His work will be strengthened and many more souls will be saved.

Will you please join me in daily prayer that God will continue to protect and return them to us and their families? What ever God’s will may be, their commitment to service will prove an inspiration to those of us still working and the growing number of volunteers which are taking positions of responsibility and risk in God’s work on the front lines.

A big thank you to each of you who have supported and are supporting our frontline volunteers. If you would like to join the growing army around the world, you can apply online at www.gmivolunteers.org. The work in Venezuela is not static, it is still growing. If you wish to continue supporting the AMA program in Venezuela, please call our office in Tennessee at 423-473-1841 and leave your name and number, and I will call you back with an update.

From the front lines in the Andes mountains and jungles of Bolivia,

Uncle David
President
Gospel Ministries International
874 S McDonald Rd SW
McDonald, TN 37353

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. In tribute to my brother Bob and his life of service let us rededicate our lives today to our God and hold high the banner of the cross, being faithful. The faithfulness of the search team in the task of finding Bob and the airplane has encouraged and inspired me. Thanks everyone for the care and support shown and for the prayers.

Barbara Norton Kay and family

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 area, to locate points of interest. All this is done without the risks and expenses of manned aircraft. This drone, once fully developed, will also be useful for future searches as well. This is a very exciting project and we will now be posting updates on our website www.findingbobnorton.org and the Facebook Discussion Board http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78096062505&ref=ts on a regular basis. We are also working with both the U.S. and Venezuelan agencies to get all approvals in place for this search effort.

In addition to the drone, over the past months we have had several experienced search and rescue personnel, (They won't let me call them experts!) , join in to help us manage the search effort. John Dill, from Yosemite Search & Rescue (YOSAR), has been reviewing our data and search plan, and is coaching us on search strategy as well as investigation methods. His attention to detail has already helped us realize we had an error in some of the data we used for our flight simulations. With corrections in place, our flight simulations are now going to be more accurate. Now, when we complete the flight simulations, Digital Globe will take satellite images of the area, to see if there are any signs of the downed aircraft or dead foliage from possible fuel and oil spills.

John Dill introduced us to George Durkee, and associates who are currently working to build a computerized 3D earth model of all of our search data. They are using a powerful software platform called GeoSpatial Information Systems (GIS). This will help organize all the data in multiple layers on an earth map, and will be most useful as we review all that has been done and determine next steps.

We are also privileged to be able to present the Norton search effort in two different venues. The first opportunity is coming up in April, at the Shenandoah National Park with a team experienced in GIS technologies. The second opportunity, is at the annual National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) convention in Sparks, NV this June. We will certainly obtain valuable input and ideas when we present this search effort to this broad search and rescue community.

We continue to capture our activities on film as well, for independent film producer Tim de la Torre from California. Tim is producing a documentary called "Beyond the Runway" , about Bob Norton and this entire effort to find him and the others.

Literally, hundreds and hundreds of voluntary man-hours are being invested in this challenging search effort. If you are interested in being a part of this effort, we do need your help as well. We have expenses associated with the drone development that we currently, do not have sufficient funds to cover. We need to raise around $8,000 to be used to develop and test the drone. We are planning on setting up a non-profit organization; in the mean time, tax deductible donations can still be made through www.outpostcenters.org (It is important to mark donations “Bob Norton Search”). If anyone has frequent flyer miles that they would like to donate, that will greatly help since we do have travel associated with the drone development, testing, and deployment. If you would like to donate frequent flyer miles, please contact me directly at the following email: bobedwards {at} findingbobnorton(.)org or call me at 423.280.8217. Thank you. and may God continue to bless this effort and those who support it!

And so we press ahead . . . (in a big way!!)

Bob Edwards – U.S. Search Team Leader