Plane Lost for 3 Years Found in N.H. Woods

The wreckage of a Learjet missing for nearly three years was found in the woods Friday, ending a mystery that far outlasted the rain and fog into which the plane vanished on Christmas Eve 1996.

The plane and two pilots disappeared after a failed approach to the Lebanon, N.H., airport. That Christmas morning, planes, helicopters and hikers began what would become the largest search in state history.

The official search was called off in early 1997 because of winter weather, but volunteers continued to look.

In July, teams from New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire spent 10 days searching 3,452-foot Carr Mountain in Warren and Wentworth. The area was suggested by a group of Dartmouth College engineering students who analyzed the case.

The wreckage was found in the woods in Wentworth and identified by the registration number on an intact piece of wreckage, said Jack Ferns, state aeronautics director. Wentworth, population 664, is about 23 miles northeast of Lebanon.

The pilots, Johan Schwartz, 31, of Westport, Conn., and Patrick Hayes, 30, of Clinton, Conn., were en route from Bridgeport, Conn., to pick up a New Hampshire family for a holiday trip when the plane disappeared during a second runway approach.

Hayes’ mother, Hermance, said the discovery was “like starting a fire all over again, like Day 1,” but provided some measure of peace.