These are typical search and rescue missions that one might expect to encounter in Michigan. Most are fictional but a couple are based on actual events. After positioning the "missing" planes, I discovered that many are *very* hard to find. At first, I thought perhaps I was overdoing it, but then I realized that the planes are to scale and the difficulty in spotting them was realistic. In fact, since they are intact and not broken up like a real crashed plane might be, they are probably easier to spot then the real thing. A couple planes appear to be inside mountains (if you find them), blame this on FS98. I could not place any downed aircraft in Band 2 (the lower half of the Upper Peninsula and the northern third of the Lower Peninsula), A&SD kept giving me "nesting errors". Some day someone will tell me what a nesting error is and how to get around it. If this feature is popular enough, I can add more search and rescue missions. So if you like this and want more, let me know.
#1: A Piper Cub with two passengers, on a flight from Bad Axe to Tawas City, is 8 hours over due. There have been no reported sightings or radio traffic from this aircraft.
#2: A Cessna 421 has disappeared during a flight from Duluth Minnesota to Marquette Michigan. The pilots' last report indicated that his compass was being affected by iron deposits in the area, he believed he had passed over Lake of the Clouds but was not sure. He indicated that he was going to continue heading in the direction that he felt was east.
#3: A red Cessna has failed to return from a sightseeing trip over the Huron Mountains. There has been no radio contact with the pilot since he left Marquette.
#4: A great lakes freighter, which was in the vicinity of Copper Harbor, has reported seeing a Piper Arrow southeast of it's position which appeared to be having engine trouble. The crew lost sight of the plane as it dropped below the horizon, they don't know if it made it to shore or went down in the water, but they believe it is down somewhere near Huron River Pt.
#5: Fishermen reported seeing a yellow Cessna, trailing smoke, go down somewhere south of Grand Marais.
#6: Various aircraft in the Houghton Lake area have reported hearing a distress message. The message was broken up; all they could catch was that the plane was a yellow Piper Cub and the words "dead" and "swamp".
#7: A blue Cessna, on a flight from Detroit to Lansing, is over due. The pilot reported to Lansing control that a door had popped open in flight and that he was going to try to make a nearby airport, but his message broke off before he could indicate the identity of that airport.
#8: An oil tanker is breaking up on rocks somewhere near Isle Royale. Weather conditions are extremely poor, but the situation is desperate and a rescue attempt must be made.
#9: A Lear Jet, in route from Chicago to New York, has dropped off radar somewhere between South Bend and Toledo. It is believed that several fashion models were on board. An agent for one of the women reported that he heard the words "water" and "cold" just before her cell phone cut out.
#10: A chopper has made an emergency landing somewhere near Adrian Michigan. It is carrying a heart for a child who needs a heart transplant. It must be located within one hour!
