Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
On November 28, 1995, Casey Industries pilot Colin Campbell,was on the last leg of several short flights from Flatwoods to Lynchburg, Virginia, when he lost contact with the air traffic control and crash landed in the Cranberry Mountain Wilderness.
For six years, family, coworkers and concerned citizens searched for the plane on the mountains of Webster and Pocahontas counties.
One of those searchers was Dwayne McCourt, who, on November 14, 2001, saw something from the passenger seat of Lee Wolfe’s plane – a patch of white in a tree.
That patch of white was part of the Cessna 414 piloted by Campbell.
McCourt told The Pocahontas Times in 2001 that he spent any spare minute he had – especially when there were no leaves and no snow – in search of the missing plane.
After spotting the plane from the air, it was time to hike out to it, which took McCourt three hours in the backcountry of Cranberry Mountain Wilderness. He was joined by U.S. Forest Service employees and friends and the group confirmed it was indeed Colin Campbell’s plane.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the incident and concluded that there was no evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction, and that fog and rising mountain terrain was the cause.
The wreckage of the plane has remained in the wilderness all these years and has attracted several hikers who read about the incident and wanted to see it for themselves.
One of those hikers is Kenny Acord, of Summersville, who spent years looking for the site.
“I went up there six different times, hunting this plane and the coordinates that were on the internet at the time were wrong,” he said. “Finally, I found the plane, and it is so heartbreaking when you walk in there knowing [what happened].”
After finding the wreckage, Acord said he did some research and tried to find information about Campbell’s family but was unable to surface much.
The story has attracted a lot of hikers who wanted to find the wreckage and pay their respects to Campbell. A memorial was anonymously placed at the site which consists of a cross with Campbell’s name and a small airplane.
One of the times Acord went to the site, he had his wife with him and the two met a couple on the trail. It happened to be Dwayne McCourt and his wife, Patty.
“We stopped on the trail, to talk to them,” Acord said. “He told me who he was and I said, ‘man, you’re my hero because you never gave up on this thing.’”
Acord has shared his photos on the Pocahontas County in Pictures Facebook page and there are several videos on YouTube from hikers who made the trek to the site.
It is cautioned that the site is off the beaten path and is not for amateur hikers.
