Ala. Christmas Day search ends with discovery of crashed Piper

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A Satellite Digital Imaging System photo of the crashed Piper PA-28 Cherokee.


Maj. Patricia Mitcham
Public Affairs Officer
Alabama Wing

ALABAMA – Members of the Alabama and Georgia wings helped search Christmas Day for a Piper PA-28 Cherokee found wrecked in the Talladega National Forest after being reported missing upon failing to arrive in Cobb County, Ga.

The pilot, John Lawrence Gilbert Jr., 21, of Pell City, Ala., was killed in the crash, authorities said. The Piper had been scheduled to leave Pell City at 10 p.m. Christmas Eve.

After being alerted Christmas morning by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, Civil Air Patrol members began searching for the aircraft. In all, 32 members of the Alabama Wing, the Alabama State Trooper Aviation Unit, Emergency Management Agency officials, as well as members of the Georgia Wing, mobilized to find the Piper. 

The wreckage was found early Christmas afternoon in rough terrain about two miles north of Heflin, some 70 miles east of Birmingham and 50 miles east of Pell City. The Alabama Wing completed 10 air and ground missions in support of the search.