RV-10 found (was missing in Texas): Sad news
 

Folks, I am posting this after talking with Doug, with the sole purpose of letting people know what is going on. I propose that we keep the speculation to ZERO, but if you have any factual information, pass it on here.

We don't know very much, except that Mark Ritter, of Lockhart, TX is the subject of a search tonight, He left Brenham a few minutes after 1230 this afternoon, headed home, and never showed up. Apparently there was a "ping" from his cell phone about 20 miles northwest of Brenham a few minutes after his departure, according to information I got from his friends out near his home field. He took off about two minutes ahead of me, but we were going opposite directions.

We can only hope and pray that he turns up - I am certain that a full-up search will be going when daylight hits tomorrow.

Paul

Prayers are going out for Marks safe recovery.

Phil & Sara

We will keep Mark in our thoughts and prayers.

I will pray he is ok.


My parents left San Antonio, TX around noon today on their way back it Morris, IL. (they made it in five hours one fuel stop in Clarksville, AR).

It was nice to have the SPOT on track me mode, as I could see them coming and know they were ok during their trip.

Our Prayers with Mark.....I hope this is a bad dream

Thanks for letting us know!

Thoughts and Prayers from the Ohio Valley RVators.

Is CAP involved yet?

I'd go search myself, but I am a thousand miles away in Michigan. Best of luck.

Not much I can do from here, but if I could I would.....Keeping my fingers crossed for now.

Stein

The flight school I did my IFR training with travels that area fairly regularly. I shared the information with them and encouraged their pilots to keep one eye on the ground.

If you've got a flight school that you use, please send them a similar message. The more eyes in the air, the better!

Phil

what's the 'N' number and the color of the plane?

N410MR, White over dark blue w/red trim

see photo here: http://www.vansairforce.net/RV10/MarkRitter.jpg

The tail number is N410MR.

I've been contacting the flight schools who I know use those areas regularly for training.

Below is the list I've contacted:

Anson Air (Sugarland)
United Flight Systems (Hooks)
American Flyers (Hooks)
MVP Aero Academy (Weiser & Conroe)

I've also been including this photo of Mark's plane, so they have a reference of what they are looking for.

Phil

From www.kvue.com
 

KVUE.com

Crews were searching Monday for a private plane that was last tracked to an area near Giddings.

According to the Air Force Rescue Control Center, the plane, flown by Mark Ritter, 71, took off from Brenham airport Sunday afternoon and was headed toward Lockhart. The signal from his experimental RV10 aircraft was last tracked to about 10 miles east of Giddings near Highway 290.

Officials say Ritter said he wasn't feeling well before he took off and wanted to return home.

Officials say he may have been able to make an emergency landing, because the emergency locator transmitter had not gone off.

The Civil Air Patrol was searching the area on the ground and was waiting for the weather to clear so they could search from the air. If you have any information, you're asked to call local authorities immediately.

Missing RV-10
 

I sure hope Mark is found and is OK.
Is is possible to track his position from the local center by looking at yesterday's radar data? I know how flat the ground is out there and they should have picked his transponder up.

I know Hicks and Conroe has a large RV community. Hopefully they have been contacted and will add to the search once the weather clears.
The radar for the area looks horrible right now. Hopefully that can clear up fast.

I'd be more than willing to sponsor an RV to add to the search group.

Yeah, the WX has been pretty nasty today. Hopefully this line of storms will get out of here and they can get a few planes up before it gets dark.

Phil

CAP probably would prefer that people stay away from their search operations. While your intentions are good, CAP needs to send planes out at low altitude to perform tedious search patterns. They don't need to be dodging "non-participant" traffic while doing that. If you do go where they are it may cause them to leave the area to avoid you, which isn't helping. We do our searches at 1000 AGL and drop down to 500 AGL to investigate targets of interest and we have our hands full just doing that.

I have said it before but I will say it again CAP needs your help for just this type of situation. But you need to join and get trained and qualified first. I am sure the Texas wing would welcome you with open arms to come and help but you have to join and get the training and demonstrate your abilities first.

www.cap.gov

-- JCB

missing plane
 

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp...nav=menu73_2_5 see picture of plane here also has n number

Please folks - this is about Information on Mark's Case
 

Folks, I just took a break from what I am doing today and deleted some messages that were essentially generic musings on CAP capability. While there was nothing wrong with the posts themselves, they could easily have taken this thread far off topic - the topic being what we know about this SPECIFIC missing friend.

Hope folks understand,

Paul

Map Geography: Brenham, TX to Lockhart, TX
 

For the non-Texan,

Map
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...712646&t=p&z=8

Satellite
[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=e...8,6.712646&z=8

Flight distance is less than 73 NM direct miles, mostly flat, going from almost SL (Brenham) to 500' (Lockhart) MSL; except for some taller radio/TV towers, mostly at about 1050' MSL, tallest of which is 1520' E-NE of Lockhart (about 1000' agl). Their is no real terrain. Report cell ping NW 20 min after deprature. May be more west than north?

The local news picked up the story on the evening news. They didn't do the normal "experimental" sensationalism. CAP is out there on foot in the rain and mud. Hats off to them.
Here is hoping that Mark is just hanging out there somewhere waiting for the skies to clear for discovery by air. That would have been a very rough night though. I can see a clearing line approaching from the west... Thinking about Mark.

prayers
 

my prayers are with mark and his family.

the weather report looks good for Tuesday's search. Blessings to CAP for the foot search in this nasty weather. hopefully, he and his lovely plane will found in good shape.

everyone hold positive thoughts,

hadley

I want to do something so bad to help but don't know what!!!! If the CAP needs additional aircraft to search on Tuesday (I will not come into the search area unless they ask) I can be over the area within an hour. If anyone hears that they could use additional help please post who to contact.

Another friend hoping and praying for the best possible outcome!!

db

I absolutely understand your desire to help and I commend it. But the way it has to be done is to join the search team first then train then search. It isn't trivial flying - CAP lost three aircrew members last year flying a mission - SAR is serious stuff that takes training. For my part, I got into CAP back last year when that RV pilot was lost somewhere over Arizona or California. I have already invested a year in training and participation and am only partly ready to respond. Another 17 hours PIC and I can start doing Mission Pilot training.

CAP is the best group to do the search. Come join, prepare, train and be ready to help the next time this sort of thing happens. We need pilots! Heck, we need ground teams also - and those are the ones out there right now.

The best way you can help other pilots in the situation Mark is in now is to prepare foer the future. Of all pilots, RV builders ought to understand what it means to take the time to invest in something you want to achieve.

All my thoughts are with Mark and his family. I wish there was something immediate I could do to help.

// Thanks also to Nomex for hitting the importance of letting CAP do its job in uncluttered airspace. That point cannot be stressed enough. //

All of us in Ohio will be keeping all those involved in the search in our thoughts.

CAP flight tomorrow
 

I am mission observer on the CAP flight going out to Giddings first thing Tuesday.

I copied the picture and a couple of details on the N410MR. Good stuff. If you all have anything else please email cap at trolinger.com with details.
Thanks, John Trolinger, 1LT CAP

Good Luck. We all wish we could be there too. Our thoughts will be with you guys.

Mark Ritter
 

I have only been up in one RV-10 and it was in N410MR with Mr. Ritter. He was so kind to introduce me to his fine airplane and to himself. I wish I could get out there tonight and help. My prayers for him and his family.

Mark Ritter
 

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark and his family, as well as the search teams.

Mike

TAF for Austin looks bad until noon today.

Staging
 

Be advised several CAP aircraft will be in the area once the fog lifts. It would be good advice to stay clear of the airspace Brenham to Lockhart including Giddings.
The various CAP squadrons in Texas are always looking for new members. Check http://www.tx424.com/ for some good background information.

Latest CAP News Release
 

The attached is from CAP this am:

Civil Air Patrol Moves Command Post

GIDDINGS, TX -- Before daybreak on Tuesday, 11 March, the Texas Wing Incident Command Post moved from Columbus, TX to the Giddings/Lee County Airport. All operations will be directed and conducted from this location, where aircraft and ground teams will be assigned in a coordinated effort to locate the missing aircraft.

Calling upon assets at Texas Wing's disposal, five aircraft and aircrews will be available at first light on Tuesday, and five ground teams will also be ready to renew the search. Texas Wing has 29 aircraft permanently deployed throughout Texas, including one highly specialized GA-8 which might be used in this search.

Each aircrew will be assigned a search area within which they'll fly an established search pattern. As soon as a likely target is located, the spotting aircrew will coordinate with the nearest ground team to guide them towards the physical location for hands-on verification. Until there is a confirmed find, all search assets will continue with the mission as planned.

In the interest of safety, the Civil Air Patrol requests that all other aircraft refrain from entering the search area. If other aircraft are present when CAP is attempting to fly its search patterns, the CAP aircrew won't be able to do its job and it would create an unsafe situation for all concerned. By the same token, CAP ground teams work best when other personnel are not in the area.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, was founded on Dec. 1, 1941, less than a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into World War II. CAP is a nonprofit organization with more than 55,000 members nationwide. The organization's members perform 95 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions, as tasked by the Air Force's Rescue Coordination Center, and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 58 lives in 2006. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counterdrug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. For more information, please visit www.cap.gov



db

More from KVUE
 

08:36 AM CDT on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

KVUE News

Search efforts continued Tuesday morning for a missing Central Texas pilot whose aircraft was last tracked to an area near Giddings.

The Civil Air Patrol says five aircrews and five ground teams would renew the search for Mark Ritter, 71, after first light Tuesday. Officials said the search command post also moved Tuesday to the Giddings/Lee County Airport, from where all operations would be directed.

Three planes flew for three hours Monday from 10 miles east of Giddings to two miles south of 290 in an arc to Lockhart in the search for Ritter. They later moved further south to Fayette County, where someone had filed a report of hearing an aircraft in trouble in that area.

Ritter was in an RV-10 experimental plane he helped build. He took off from the Brenham Municipal Airport about 12:30 p.m. Sunday along with another plane. Both were headed to Lockhart.

Ritter never arrived, and his plane transponder was tracked to an area about 10 miles east of Giddings. The terrain there is full of thick brush and undeveloped land.

Ritter told friends before he left he wasn't feeling well and wanted to get home.

The Civil Air Patrol reports that Ritter's emergency locator transmitter has not gone off -- which it would have in the event of either a crash or bumpy landing. They are hoping he safely landed the plane and is waiting for help.

Now if you want to help, here's an idea...
 

One thing that non-CAP members might be able to do to help would be to provide food and refreshments to the aircrews at the mission base. BEFORE YOU DO THIS HOWEVER, please arrange ONE single point of contact to call the mission base with ONE offer.

Keep in mind I am not writing in any official CAP capacity here. Please keep in mind they are busy on this mission so don't tie them up with details. But I suspect they will accept this kind of assistance. And be prepared to drive the food there - they probably don't need any more air traffic coming into the airport.

Just an idea.

--JCB

Bad news. On my blackberry, so I can't type much.


Phil


http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/t...d-dafba7fb2fe9

Article doesn't say much but i pray thats a good thing. Anybody have any other updates

Sad News Out Of Austin
 

The latest report from keyetv says Mark Ritter died in the crash of his RV-10.
http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/t...d-dafba7fb2fe9

With heavy heart, my deepest condolences goes out to Mark's family and friends.

Very sad to hear the news. Clearly, Mark died doing what he loved.

A very sad day indeed.

minor update
 

according to local news, the area were the found mark's plane was heavily wooded. the terrain may slow the recovery process.

my prayers and condolences to mark's family and friends.

H

To Fallen Comrades
 

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941

You will be missed Mark

Oh geez. This is sad. I kept watching the fog this morning, wondering how long it would take before they could get off the ground and get this guy home. My condolences to his family and friends. I am sorry for your loss. :(