Anchorage Times, 10/18/1972, Courtesy of Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage

Join us online for a virtual Cook Inlet Historical Society lecture.

Free online via Cloudcast.

Advance registration is required to receive the link. Please register directly on the Anchorage Museum website by following this link: Register Here

Speaker: Colleen Mondor

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The history of aviation in Alaska includes several examples of aircraft that took off one day and were never seen again. Colleen Mondor, author of The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska, will dive into the records of several of these missing aircraft, both infamous and obscure, and discuss how myths can develop when investigations must remain incomplete and final answers are elusive.

The talk will begin with facts surrounding the 1972 Boggs/Begich missing flight, and then discuss the history of earlier missing aircraft (starting in 1929 with Carl Ben Eielson, whose aircraft was found and Russel Merrill’s whose remains a mystery) as well as some missing aircraft from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Recent examples help explain how aircraft still become missing in this modern era. This is the third talk in the Cook Inlet Historical Society’s 2021-2022 Lecture Series. 

Colleen Mondor is an investigative journalist specializing in Alaska aviation. Her bylines include Aviation International News, Aviation Safety Magazine, Skies Magazine, Men's Journal, Anchorage Daily News, Plane & Pilot and others.