Men on missing plane found in drying lake identified

FRITCH - Investigators have identified two men who were aboard a plane found on a receding, drought-stricken lake in the Texas Panhandle after being missing for 24 years.

Steven Lampe was the pilot of the small, two-seat Beech 77. Larry Lucas was his passenger, officials said.

The plane and bodies never turned up during a six-day diving search.

John Ware, 18, and Greg Daly, 16, both of Fritch, were canoeing at the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area when they discovered the wreckage Friday.

National Park Service officials said the discovery on Lake Meredith was confirmed to be the fuselage the plane, which went missing during a two-hour flight on Jan. 27, 1984. A fisherman found part of the plane's landing gear the next day.

Park service personnel have closed the area around the wreckage so they can investigate the site, spokeswoman Rozanna Pfeiffer said.

Lake Meredith, about 20 miles north of Amarillo, is at just 8 percent of its capacity of 500,000 acre-feet, according to the latest monthly report from the Texas Water Development Board.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)