GEORGETOWN, GUYANA (WVLT) – There may be a small glimmer of hope in the search for an East Tennessee man and his two flying companions whose airplane disappeared over South America on November 1st.

The Stabroek News is a daily newspaper based out of Guyana’s capital. In the Monday edition of the paper, the head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that a signal from the Emergency Locator Transmitter on board the Beech King Air twin engine plane had been detected by search crews.


Christopher Paris, 23 of Lenoir City was co-pilot of plan which disappeared about one hour after taking off from a runway in Georgetown. Also on board were pilot Wes Barker, 28 of Salem, South Carolina and Patrick Murphy, a Canadian geophysics technician. Paris and Barker are employees of Dynamic Aviation, a Bridgewater, Virginia based company which charters airplanes. At the time of their disappearance, they were conducting a geophysical survey for a Canadian mining company which hopes to find uranium deposits in Guyana.

According to the paper, the signal from the plane’s transmitter is considered very weak, and will not help pinpoint the missing aircraft crews can narrow down the search area.

Teams from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, British military and Dynamic Aviation are still searching for wreckage.

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11/12/08