SDA Plane Down in Venezuela

[Richard Myers]

February 19, 2009 Gran Sabana, Bolivar, Venezuela


   
Robert Norton and wife Neiba


Seventh-day Adventists continue to search for a missing medical missionary plane, which disappeared Monday, February 16 in the jungles of La Gran Sabana, a vast southeastern region in Venezuela.

The Cessna 182N plane piloted by Robert Norton, who volunteers for Adventist Medical Aviation (AMA) in Venezuela, is believed to have hit turbulent weather after taking off from the community of Carun en route to the community of Bethel.

Also in the plane were six passengers: Neiba Norton, wife of the pilot; Gladis Zerpa, an Adventist teacher; a woman accompanying a 14-year-old and a woman traveling with her young son.

"Our church is really distraught about the news of this tragedy," said Rodolfo Escobar, Communication director for the church in Venezuela.

Escobar said church members in Gran Sabana began searching for the missing plane as soon as they heard the news. The National Civil Aviation Institute, along with several air rescue and non-government organizations, immediately began their search but stopped after 72 hours.

The church has continued today to search the area by contracting air rescue organizations.

Escobar said there were several accounts from villagers in the adjacent areas of Carun who heard the plane's engines go silent at some point during the stormy weather.

"We have formed groups to search in the air and several more groups on foot to scour the region where the plane communication was last heard," Escobar said.

Norton, the pilot, has more than 20 years of flying experience. For the last eight years, he has served as director of AMA Venezuela, which is based on the campus of La Gran Sabana Adventist School in Santa Elena de Uairén in Bolivar. His wife Neiba is a registered nurse and works with indigenous people in the region.

The AMA is an international project established about 12 years ago. AMA provides emergency medical transportation and evangelistic support to dozens of otherwise inaccessible villages.

Source: Adventist News Network

[daryta]

We have been followers of David Gates' ministry and had seen videos of Mr. Norton.  Our prayers are going to heaven for everyone in the plane.

[Mimi]

Today I visited with a friend who is close to the ministry and there is still no word on the missing plane and occupants.

[JimB]

I realize it's only been two days...but just wondering if there has been any word?

[Mimi]

None that we know of. 

[Mimi]

February 22 blogger's update. The blogger translated an e-mail from the pilot's brother-in-law:

    Hello, I do not read or speak English so I will leave my message in Spanish.

    My name is Carlos Gutierrez and I am the brother of Neiba Gutierrez de Norton, wife of Captain Robert Norton, both with Adventist Medical Aviation based in the indigenous community of Maurak, Santa Elena de Uairen, Gran Sabana,Bolivar, Venezuela.

    I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and help from all of the brothers and friends of my sister and Robert for all the help in trying to find them safe and sound.

    We still have no news , the air and ground search continues and it has already been several days but we still have hope.

.


    Thank you for all your prayers,

    Carlos Gutierrez

[Mimi]

From Gates' website - headline:  http://gospelministry.org/blog/?page_id=455  Looks like they are running out of funds to search. 

[Mimi]

The search continues ...

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1237626962127160.xml&coll=1

[Mimi]

Radio signal brings hope for downed missionary
April 18, 2009

By: Andy Johns  Source + more story
(Contact)

News of a mysterious radio transmission heard three days after a missionary pilot went down in Venezuela has stirred hope for friends searching for him.

McMinnville resident Bob Edwards, who just returned from searching for Bob Norton, said radio operators in Venezuela told him they had received a weak, six-second transmission from the jungle three days after Mr. Norton’s plane went down. Operators told him they recognized English words and got the general direction of the signal but did not know what was said.

Mr. Norton, an Adventist Medical Aviation pilot from Jackson County, Ala., and six other people in his plane last were heard from Feb. 16. Mission group officials said the group was near the Gran Sabana area on the border of Venezuela and Brazil.

“If that was them three days after the crash, that’s definitely a good sign,” Mr. Edwards said.

[Kelsy]

Below is the latest report on the Bob Norton Plane disappearance in
Venezuela from David Gates through Helen Van Denburgh.

Subject: March report from Venezuela
From: davico@gospelministry.org
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:09:46 +0000

Dear Friends,

Here are some additional details from Venezuela which is now known around
the village so I can share it.

1. I have confirmed with the plane's mechanic that the ELT (Emergency
Locator Transmiter) on the plane was in perfect operating order. Since there
was no signal reported or picked by any airlines or searchers, we have to
assume the possibility that plane did not crash but disappeared from other
reasons.

2. The radio operator, Celso, stated that Bob had transmitted a long series
of transmissions prior to disappearing. None were intelligeable because of
terrible radio atmospheric conditions. However since Bob rarely made long
transmissions, there must have been some serious problem. A crash into a
cliff wall has been basically ruled out as the governor's helicopter has
done careful searches at the base of all possible cliffs which fortunately
have only low bush which make it easy to see the ground.

3. In the area where Bob was are three small runways. Two of these Bob used
ocasionally, and one never used as far as we know. One of the alternatives
gaining weight is that Bob landed normally in one of those runways and the
plane's disappearance happened immediately after. Both the ground teams and
public relations teams are working on ruling this out.

4. It is a matter of interest to note that several village shamans
(spiritists) from local tribes have kept showing up trying to pass on
information which our Adventist brethren dismissed as unacceptible because
it didn't come from God. Initially all of them stated that the pilot and
passengers are dead and the searchers should give up.

Several weeks ago, an elderly grandfather, a godly Adventist man, received
three dreams, all identical. In these dreams he saw the place where the
plane is being held and all persons alive. As the Davis Indians have a long
history of God leading them through dreams, and because the man receiving
the dreams is a very saintly man, I have encouraged searchers to lend high
credibility to his information, which they are.

Finally, it is fascinating to note that now the shamans from the other
tribes have now all changed their stories. They are all stating that
everyone is alive and have been hijacked. It is clear that the enemy is
trying to steal God's glory as He unfolds His plan before the world.

Please encourage everyone to be praying for all persons invplved and a
positive outcome as the search continues.

God bless,

David

[daryta]

This is good news. We will continue to pray, pray and pray.

Daryta and CP

[LindaRS]

Adventist World has an article written by Bob Norton's sister about his work in medical aviation in Venezuela. Living God's Love

[Mimi]

That is a very moving article.

[Mimi]

From Gates, Gospel Ministries International:

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.

[Richard Myers]

Amen!!!   

Heavenly Father, we know this is true, that nothing touches your children that does not first touch you. You are in absolute control and have promised that all things work together for good to those who love you. We pray for these missionaries that devoted their lives to your cause. You know the situation. We pray that you use this sorrowful crime to your honor and glory. Bring the truth to light and work for the salvation of all involved. Give hope and peace to the families of all who are missing. We pray in the precious name of Jesus, amen.