Search for couple resumes

By SUSAN L. OPPAT 

SEP 18 1997

NEWS STAFF REPORTER 

The search for a missing Howell couple, who apparently disappeared Sunday in their single-engine plane on their way from Drummond Island to Livingston County, was scheduled to begin again this morning.

Mark and Janet Davies were last seen near their vacation trailer at about 3 p.m. Sunday, but no one saw them arrive at the airport there and no flight plan was filed.

Mark Davies, 47, a pilot for about five years, was reported missing by another pilot, after he learned Davies failed to show up at work Monday. Janet Davies, who turned 52 on Saturday, has been an art teacher in Brighton schools for 27 years.

The Michigan Wing Civil Air Patrol has been searching for the couple since Monday night.

Mission commander Lt. Col. Tom Dickinson said this morning that air and ground teams would conduct new searches of the areas that they already examined to be certain they didn’t miss the plane.

He said investigators would also talk to people in the Roscommon area today who said they saw a plane similar to the white Piper plane with blue and yellow trim, but added that the leads there are not solid.

Dickinson said Davies apparently took off in foggy weather Sunday. He said Davies was not required to file a flight plan.

“That’s the pilot’s choice, but it would have been a big help,” Dickinson said.

As it was, the couple disappeared Sunday. a£ terrnoon, and the Air Patrol was not notified until Monday night. “It wasn’t a warm trail when we started,” Dickinson said.

“We’re going to do a lot of re-doing of what we did the last few days, concentrating on the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula, down the 1-75 corridor,” he said. 

Dickinson said the U.S. Coast Guard is assisting in the search over water near the Upper Peninsula. .

Anyone with information about the couple's location can call the Michigan Wing Civil Air Patrol at 1-888-642-4227.