prayers and thoughts

[stutters]

in short, a great guy and three of his kids are missing. prayers, thoughts, etc are very much welcome.

 

A few moments ago our CFO Mike Derheim spoke to our entire staff and said as much of this as he could:

 

I have difficult news about Luke. It’s difficult because it’s about someone we know and love. It’s difficult because of what we know and what we don’t know.

 

We know that he left Wyoming flying his own plane yesterday, and that ground control lost contact with him at about 2 p.m. We know that search efforts have been hindered by bad weather, and that it has only recently cleared enough for planes and hikers to conduct a search.

 

Everyone here knows what Luke means to everyone here, as both a leader and a friend.

 

We will get through this by standing together, and by leaning on each other when we can’t. Pray for him, and for his family, and support each other.

 

We are telling you first, but we will also soon get word to others who can also send their thoughts and prayers. We can’t have too many people pulling for Luke and supporting his family and friends. If you feel you need to leave to deal with this privately, we understand and you can.

 

For those who don’t want to be alone this evening, stay. We’ll be organizing a gathering here for those who want to come together to extend thoughts and prayers to Luke and his family.

 

Luke’s wife Ginger will be posting information – as much as we know now – on Facebook and on their blog, Lukeandginger.com.

 

You all know Luke as perhaps the most approachable, affable executive the world as ever known. He’s been an open communicator in good times and bad times. I’m trying my best to follow his lead in that regard today.

 

If you have questions or want to talk, my door is open.

 

http://blog.nerdery.com/2010/10/need-your-prayers/

http://lukeandginger.com/

[mohawk]

wow

 

I'll be keeping luke and his kids in my thoughts.

[akaM2]

Sorry to hear that, ill hope for the best

[stutters]

still missing. search and rescue finally got out yesterday, and looks like they'll have good weather to search again today.

 

From: Fremont County Sheriff's Office

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Contact: Sgt. Ryan Lee, 307-332-1021 (NOTE: NEW #)

 

UPDATE: Search for missing aircraft at 8:00 AM

 

(Lander, WY) – A four-member search team inserted into the rugged Fitzpatrick Wilderness Area of Northwest Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest on Tuesday afternoon worked until after dark and began before first light Thursday. The team, and a second ground team that headed for the nine-square mile search area east of Gannett Peak early this morning, is searching for clues to the disappearance of a single-engine fixed-wind aircraft missing since Monday. Four members of a Minnesota family are believed to be on board.

“Our ground teams will be looking for clues and our air teams will be looking for the aircraft,” said Incident Commander Chip Williams at a 7:00 a.m. briefing. “This is a huge search area and we will be acting on intelligence as the days goes on. We’re going to hit this hard again today.”

Several helicopters crisscrossed the search area on multiple sorties Wednesday. A fast moving winter storm front that hit the area with up to 15 inches of snow Tuesday night made observation from the air difficult as search teams reported the ground cover was very bright with fresh white snow. The missing aircraft is also white. Search crews are concentrating their efforts east of the last known location of the aircraft where the terrain ranges from 11,000 to 13,000 feet in elevation.

Weather over the search area today includes increasing high cloudiness, windy conditions and slightly warmer temperatures predicted to reach into the low to mid 30s.

Scheduled to join the search effort this morning is a fixed-wing aircraft from the Park County, WY, Search and Rescue Team. The aircraft is equipped with highly sensitive detection equipment that may aid in locating any automated emergency transmissions from the missing aircraft, which have not been detected to this point.

Due to the remoteness of the search area, an Incident Command Center has been established at the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department in Lander and a heli-base is in operation at Lander’s Hunt Field General Aviation airport.

The remoteness of the site is providing a challenge for communications as search helicopters and ground crews working in the drainages east of Wyoming’s highest peak must relay information via satellite telephones or from aircraft flying above the ridgelines.

Fremont County, Wyoming is nearly 10,000 square miles in size, larger than seven other states. The Continental Divide is the western boundary of the county and the search area is located in a high mountainous region that separates Jackson Hole from the Wind River Basin. The nearest road from the search area is over 20 miles away with only hiking and horseback trails providing access into the area. The ground search teams were ferried into a location just outside of the wilderness boundary by helicopter.

Further information will be released as conditions warrant.

http://lukeandginger.com/node/212