Pryor Scrapbook Clippings, 1955-1980

~o t That Vanished Into .Storm-1hreatened Sky Left Only Silent Stars And Clouds As Witnesses ··· By BARNEY DuBOIS . Staff Writer WA L N U T RIDGE, J\rk., May 4. - This· is the story of two men, two wo~en, an air– plane and Walnut Ridge. It began at 1.1: 45 p.m., Feb. 7, when a white and baby blue 1963 Beechcraft Musketeer lifted smartly from the con– crete runway at Hawkins Field in Jackson, Miss., and pointed its bumming nose northward. the four-place, ' low-wing monoplane melted out of sight beneath a canopy of stars and a three-quarter moon. There was haze 011 the ht>rizon. It was 52 degrees. "it was a ,beautiful night," says Mrs. Peggy Porter of Jackson, who watched the single-engine plane's lights disappear into blackness. u1 remember thinking how pretty it was. The moon. The stars. We were expecting some weather to come up the ~ext day, but that night, it was pretty." · ) l Mrs. Porter's brother, Bobby _ . Futrell, 37, was the plane's pilot. Aboard with him _were his wife, Marilyn Price Fu– trell, 34, and two friends, Wil– liatn Darrell Slayton, 32, md his wife, Betty Cole Slayton, 29. All four lived at Walnut Ridge. flown at night therequired number of previous times from that airport. I ''It is dangerous., to fly · at night without some µistrumeat instruction/ '-said Harold JoJm– son, pilot for Southern Airw~ys and manager of fixed-base op– erations at Walnut Ridge Air– port. / 'Mq$t• flight , stjlools will never permit their students to fly at night·witnout instrument training."' The missing plane had a VHF transmitter and receiver, a VHF navigational receiver, 1 and an ADF radio compass, 1which Mr. Johnson says is 1 enough to make instrument navigation possible, if the -pilot could use them. "If he couldn't then a real small cloud would have done it. He could have become diso– ,riented, it doesn't take long. ,\He could have gotten vertigo and thought the plane was 1 doing one thing while it was i doing something else. He · f might .have thought he was going straight, but instead 'eould have been spinning. He I would have gone straight down." I Mr. Johnson said many 1 crashes occur when pilots for– get to switch the fuel selector valve when one fuel tank' emp– ties. The valve controls the flow ·of fuel from either of two I wing tanks. They crash, he says, thinking they ran out of gas. ·_They were returning from a bnef, tightly scheduled busi– ness · jaunt to Jackson -:- a roll,lld-trip which had started ·at , that afternoon .m.Ylalnut Ridle. """""',_...,,,...,..-~ Another pQssibility, and one Bttt they didn't make it that is a favorite with Mr. hoiQe. Johnson, is that Mr. Futrell And, after three months, the saw the stonp clouds, tried to plcifte and its passengers still - _ ___ .JJ ::'-T- ______ avoid them, and became lost. rre missing. No one has seen From what I know, Bob Fu- "I don't think he flew into a them :::ince that ordinary Jack- about the plane's fate a good pilot," says1cloud. He probably could have son take::>ff; despite thousands ! tnornmg. But the where, when 1Mr. HQpkins' IQech~ic, .,Con- se~n it in the lig~tning, and cf boim:: of .air searches. I . and how make this story in- [rad House, 24, of M.intum; Ark. •tried ta go under 1t or around · The last words from them complete. . ,"He was one of those real it. If · he did, he may have · came 40 minutes after they The proverbial leather-faced I picky guys who had to have overflown Walnut Ridge and lifted into the darkness. In that 91d men who spend their days everything just so-so. He was crashed anywhere between first hour of Feb. 8, Mr. Fu- sjtting in front of the new Law- real careful." here and dieMismurl.OZarb. treH made a routine radio rence County Courthouse in . Mrs. Porter, the last person He could be anywhere within a check with the Federal Avia- Walnut Ridge have· a common 1 to see - the missing party, five or six hundred mile radius tion Administration flight serv- idea. They say the plane ran ag~ees with Mr. House's evalu- of ,~:~:!her, his only navi– ice station at · Greenwood, into the storm and was at10n: "'He was a very careful Miss., 85 air miles from Jack- Knocked into the St. Francis person flying or driving. He gational method was strictly R· ho ' th ki d on reference to visual land- ..so~: . He reported. he was ~ver iver ttoms, -where it may ~asn t e n .to take undue marks. And at night, once you Greenwood and continuing. ~ave sunk into 20 feet of mire. risks. Bob checked that plane He was told to be wary of a iAnother theory is that it may _over carefully before he left · lose· your way, you might not quiddy moving squall line have crashed into the Missis- Jackson, and he said it was all fil~.tt ag~in." th. hich 1 e e ping across Ar~an~as sippi River. Others think it right." . ma e~~a:,s u;°:: ::a; that the southwest, bringing '-=-~~-~-- . y Ii b 1 t d p ble thunderstorms into !never made it across the river, · Dani~I PolncJexter, who man- 1 Mr. Futre ' eca~e 05 an h~~th to Walnut Ridge•. He that it is in the· Mississippi ages P&L Auto Parts in Wal- othverfltie_w 'f:'alnut .RJdg. e. Abo.ut no reply. · · wilds, camouflaged by the nut Ridge and a close friend to e me -~~~~• ~ -air- • FutteWs flight- -pfan ~eavy J?elta forest. Th; storm both missing men,. says Mr. Fi,tarie ~· was neard,over'·the Clo- .a for a straight visual figures mto everybody s theo- Futrell Qnce turned back from ver Bend and Black Rock com- ~ route from Jackson to ry; the plane definitely hit bad a planned trip because he en- munities west and southwest of - InMississippi, another 1,000 hours have been clocked by the Mississippi CAP. Every inch was covered, sometimes several times over, from G r e e n w o o d north to the Tennessee line and from Inter– state 55 to the River. "It's a- weird one,•~ says an FAA spokesman at "Jackson. "I can't re membe r one staying down this .long.in the flatlands without be ing see n. It happens all the time in Florida, but that's different~rrain." James E. Goodale of the Memphis FAA Office adds that whatever happened, it must have happened quickly. Other– wise, he guesses, the pilot would have raqioed his position and asked for help. · The eff~ts of _the tragedy are still evident in Walnut Ridge, a northeast Arkansas community .of about 3,800. Mr. Futrell owned and oper– ated Western Auto stores in Walnut Ridge and neighboring Lynn, Ark. In all, his father and he had run the Walnut Ridge store 33 years on Main Street, now directly across fr:orn the' Post Office, and next door to the Sharum, the city's 1 only theater. His greatuncle alnut Ridge, passing Green- weather, they say. count_E:red a storm. Walnut Ridge. But who can WDOd and Helena, Ark. His ar- 11 If_ you talked to a hundred "He learned to fly from his say definitely it was Mr. F.u- 1'.ival ~ - ~t Walnut Ri~ge peopl~~ you'd get a hund~ed daddy, and A. o. Futrell was \ trell? was to have been between 1.30 ideas, says J. P. Hopkins, one of the pioneer aviators in More than 1,000 hours of and 2 a.m. He had enough fuel owner and , operator 9f Hop- this country" says Mr. Poin- search time have been flmvn to remain aloft until nearly 4 pie's ~ircra~ Service at 'Yal.. dexter. "H~ (Bob) has been out of aged but sound Walnut a.m., no longer. nut Ridg~ ~rport. He ~la1ms flying as long as I can remeJ?l- Ridge Airport, with its World I the $6,500 airplane was m per- ber." war II constructed eight-inch feet shape. Regardless, Bob Futrell did ' thick 5,000-foot concrete run- ! "It's had its annual (inspec- not have an instrument rating. ways. Civil Air Patrol scouts tion) less than five months be- He had not flown extensively and weekend flyers have con-- fore that night. It was a dandy, for a number of years. And he centrated on every Arkansas ~ · la nice Jtirplane, nothing wrong may have flown in violation of acre between Helena and the wttlrtt,.. hewuc:bes. FM regulations by taking off Missouri line, including the He refuses to question Mr. at night with passengers in an area weJt of Walnut Ridge. i Futrell's ·ftyjg abili . ' airplane which he bad • I