Paul Meyer

[SamMcGowan]

I recently posted the entire incident report for the incident when assistant crew chief Sgt Paul Meyer stole his airplane at Mildenhahl. This report has been available for years - I got it around 2000 from somebody. I included a link to the Yahoo group Bob Woods set up, but he really doesn't have any additional info. At one point I also had a file with transcripts of the HF conversation, but can't seem to find it so I mustn't have transferred it as I've switched computers over the years. His last words to his wife were "I've got a problem. I'll be right back as soon as I take care of it." The Yahoo group contains an Email from Jerry Bennett, who was one of the C-130 pilots involved in the search. He believes Meyer flew into a line of thunderstorms and took the airplane off autopilot and lost control. The entire incident occured early on Sunday morning during hours of darkness for the most part. He took off right after 0500 and radar contact was lost a few minutes before 0700. There are a lot of rumors about what supposedly happened but none of them have any support. Meyer was a private pilot but there is no indication he had either a multi-engine or instrument rating but he was trying to fly an airplane that required a minimum of two crewmembers even for emergency operation. He flew around over and in the vicinity of the UK for almost TWO HOURS! The report is at www.sammcgowan.com/meyers.html. (If you have MacAfee Siteadvisor, you'll get a flag but the site is safe.)