It’s been three and a half years since pilot Bob Norton and six other passengers aboard his Cessna 182 airplane were seen flying over the Venezuelan jungles. A group of individuals dedicated to finding them, known as the Norton Search Team, hasn’t stopped looking for the beloved pilot in hopes of solving the mystery of his missing plane.
“I don’t know how I can stop looking for my friend. I don’t think I should,” said team leader Bob Edwards.
The team is hosting a benefit concert to help fund its continuing search effort for Norton and his wife Neiba, both Alabama missionaries, Saturday, Aug. 18 at the Choo Choo Centennial Theatre. The search effort is entirely funded through donations, fundraisers and team members’ own money.
The Nortons were medical aviation missionaries in the jungles of the Gran Sabana in Venezuela, flying back and forth across the country to carry the sick and wounded that needed advanced medical care. Norton was known as a skilled pilot who would brave even the most dangerous weather if it meant saving someone’s life, said Edwards.
“Everybody knew Bob,” Edwards said. “They called him the angel of the Sabana.”