Somewhere under a vast canopy of Venezuelan jungle, Bob Edwards hopes to locate a downed Cessna 182 and his best friend -- a missionary pilot who's been missing for almost two years, along with six others who were on the plane.
The Cessna went down Feb. 16, 2009, and Edwards has been to Venezuela twice to search for his friend Bob Norton.
This summer a search party will return to Venezuela equipped with a revamped strategy and new technology. Edwards' group plans to use an automated aircraft fitted with a camera and a radar. They'll also work with newly developed software that allows them to map all the leads they've taken and the areas they've searched so far.
"We're finding a lot of information we missed the first time," said Edwards. "We've had to pore over a 10,000-square-mile area, but we've narrowed it down to two main zones of 200 square miles."
At this point, Edwards said, the search party is planning the mission as a recovery, not a rescue. But the energy has not ebbed, he said.
"The number of people aiding in the search has increased dramatically in the last year," Edwards noted.
Team members have included rangers with the U.S. National Park Service, engineers and software developers and government agencies from both the U.S. and Venezuela. A team from NASA reviewed the search strategy.
"Hundreds of people who don't even know Bob are passionate about the search," Edwards said.
Edwards has been studying maps, satellite images and reams of other information for the past two years on top of working as an engineer in LaFayette, Ga.
"What would you do if you lost your best friend?" said Edwards, who has known Norton for 15 years.
"We won't stop looking until we find them or until we run out of things to do. Right now there's more things to do than we ever thought possible."
Contact staff writer Kate Harrison at kharrison@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.