OGDEN -- The search continues for an Ogden-born man who disappeared Saturday on a flight from Canada.
Terry Johnson, 75, a resident of Longmont, Colo., was in northern Canada for a canoe trip and had begun the first leg of his trip back to the United States from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, Canada.
He took off about 5:30 a.m. and made contact with air traffic control 15 to 20 minutes later, saying he was at 11,000 feet and level, said his son, Jim Johnson.
Jim Johnson said controllers asked his father to switch to another frequency and check in with flight control at Fort Simpson, about 150 miles from Norman Wells.
He acknowledged their request, which was his last contact.
"They never heard from him again. That was his last verbal point of contact. They never had any radar contact, because they don't have radar up there," Jim Johnson said.
This was his dad's second trip to Norman Wells this year.
Jim Johnson said he first heard his dad was missing when he was contacted by U.S. Customs, which was how the family knew he never made it back into the country.
He was scheduled to make a fuel stop in Peace River, before heading to Great Falls, Mont., where he was supposed to land at 10:41 a.m.
Terry Johnson was flying his Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, a single-engine plane, which is equipped with an emergency transmitter. But the transmitter either did not go off or couldn't be tracked it because it may have been severed from the antenna in a crash, Jim Johnson said.
"We also know that somehow it looks like he flew into or there was some bad weather around," he said.
"We're not sure why he flew. He's a very cautious pilot, so it's very strange that he would have flown at all. There were a lot of lightning strikes that day."
Jim Johnson said his father has nearly 30 years of experience as a pilot.
Terry Johnson had the equipment from his canoe trip as well as survival gear to last quite awhile, his son said.
There are 15 aircraft and more than 50 people on the ground looking for Terry Johnson in the area where the plane disappeared.
Canadian search and rescue teams are taking advantage of the 22 hours daily of light in northern Canada now, Jim Johnson said, with most aircraft searching 20 hours a day and a few running around the clock.
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