Carter Roy

The Civil Air Patrol was called in to do a search.

They're a civilian offshoot of the military that handles aircraft emergencies.

The airstrip crew likely only called them as a precaution.

This was Steve Fawcett, after all.

He knew the limitations of his small flyer.

He probably got carried away with his joyride, noticed the plane was nearing its limit, and landed to refuel.

The thing is, no one received any kind of message from Steve.

Even though he didn't have his emergency watch, his plane should have sent a distress signal.

So there was nothing saying he was in danger, but nothing saying he was safe.

And the rescue mission didn't bring any answers.

Soon, hundreds of volunteers and officials joined the cause.

High and low across the Sierra Nevada mountains, an area double the size of New Jersey, a massive investigation.

In fact, this routine flight did manage to break a record like his others.

According to the San Diego Air and Space Museum, it resulted in the largest air and ground search in American history.

And yet, Fawcett was nowhere to be found.

He just vanished.

The weirdest part is, this wasn't unheard of.

In fact, during the Fawcett search, rescue teams discovered eight planes that nobody knew even crashed.

It doesn't stop there.

Those eight planes, Fawcett, they're just a fraction of the disappearances around here.