On a summer morning, July 25, 1984, 46-year-old Gerald Dalrymple, a Caucasian male with brown hair and blue eyes, prepared for what should have been a routine flight in Alaska. He was a passenger on a chartered white, green, and gold trimmed Cessna 401B, with the tail number N7984Q, that departed from Anchorage, Alaska. The flight, operated by Alaska Air Service, was headed to the small community of Cantwell, a journey that was expected to take about an hour over the immense and rugged Alaska
Range. Onboard with Dalrymple were four other individuals: Jack Dickey, Donald Gabbert, Gordon Newstrom, and John Murphy. The men were employees of Newberry Alaska, undertaking an inspection trip related to the Alaska Power Authority intertie, a significant infrastructure project connecting Fairbanks and Anchorage.
The pilot, Keith Newstrom, obtained a weather briefing at 6:30 AM which indicated visual flight rules with some marginal conditions along their intended path. However, an updated briefing at 7:04 AM reported that the destination of Cantwell was under instrument flight rules suggesting more challenging weather conditions. Despite this, the aircraft departed from Anchorage International at 7:31 AM as a company VFR flight. Tragically, after its departure, there were no further communications from the aircraft. The plane never reached its destination, and no distress signals were ever received.
The disappearance of the Cessna and the five men aboard prompted an immediate and extensive search operation. Search and rescue teams, including the Civil Air Patrol, scoured a vast area of the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. For weeks, search aircraft flew hundreds of missions, covering over 50,000 square miles, but found no trace of the missing plane or its occupants. The search was officially suspended in August of 1984, leaving the families of the missing men in a state of agonizing uncertainty. In the years that followed, the families continued to hold out hope, with the pilot's father, a seasoned aviator himself, continuing the search. Newberry Alaska Inc. even offered a reward for any information that could lead to the discovery of the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the incident could only classify it as a 'missing aircraft' with the reason for the occurrence undetermined. The case stands as a somber reminder of the perils of aviation in the vast and often unpredictable Alaskan landscape, one of hundreds of aircraft that have vanished in the state over the decades.Last Seen: Jul 25, 1984
