Vanished: Jim Hysong

Janice Vaughan

Jim Hysong was an experienced pilot, someone who spent much of his young life in the air. On the morning of March 15, 1993, he rented a two-seater 1974 Piper Cherokee Arrow. His plan appeared straightforward enough—fly out from Toledo Suburban Airport to Jackson, Michigan, to take an exam to become a certified flight instructor. No flight plan was filed, but that wasn't unusual for such a short flight. The entire trip should have taken about twenty minutes. Nothing about it seemed out of the ordinary.

Janice Vaughan

At 10:15 that morning, Jim took off, climbing smoothly to an altitude of 4,800 feet. But instead of heading straight for Jackson, his plane bypassed the small Michigan airport altogether. FAA air logs recorded his flight taking a puzzling turn—several miles southeast of Jackson. Then it continued even farther, past Grand Rapids, past Grand Haven, until the plane was out over Lake Michigan. It was an eighty-three-minute flight that ended without any known destination, as both Jim and the plane vanished somewhere over the water.

Janice Vaughan

It didn’t take long for an intensive search effort to get underway. Volunteer pilots from the Michigan Chapter of the Civil Air Patrol spent six weeks combing the area, first scouring the land, then turning their attention to the waters of Lake Michigan. They used sonar imagery, aerial patrols—every tool they could think of—but not a single trace of the plane or its wreckage was found. No debris, no signs of a crash, nothing. It was as though Jim’s entire flight had simply disappeared into thin air.

Janice Vaughan

When a plane and its pilot disappear completely, speculation rushes in to fill the void left by the unanswered questions. With Jim Hysong’s disappearance, two primary theories have dominated the conversation. Some investigators believe the plane simply crashed into Lake Michigan, possibly due to mechanical failure or even pilot error—though Jim was highly experienced. Others, though, suggest something far darker. Could Jim have intentionally stolen the plane, only to face foul play in an attempt to sell it on the black market?

Janice Vaughan

Complicating the mystery is the peculiar detail of the plane’s tail number: N15206. After the plane went missing, this tail number appeared in Federal Aviation Administration reports on four separate occasions. Weather radio checks, fuel purchases—it’s as if the plane resurfaced, if only for a moment. But each time, the trail went cold. No physical evidence, no eyewitnesses to confirm whether it was actually Jim’s aircraft. Just temporary echoes of a plane long presumed gone.

Janice Vaughan

And thinking beyond Jim’s case, it’s haunting to realize how many aviation disappearances have unfolded in a similar, almost ghostly manner. Amelia Earhart, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370—the stark silence left in the wake of these cases is unsettling for investigators and families alike. Jim’s story now shares that same sense of absence, one where the lack of answers feels like its own kind of certainty.

Janice Vaughan

Before his disappearance, Jim Hysong was an ambitious, charismatic young man with a passion for aviation. He had spent time at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, one of the most prestigious flight schools in the nation. Though he didn't meet the requirements for graduation, he still gained invaluable flying experience during his time there—experience that would later propel him to start flying independently from Toledo Suburban Airport in January of 1993.

Janice Vaughan

By all accounts, Jim was driven. He was twenty years old, deeply committed to carving out a future in aviation, and the day he went missing, he was supposedly heading to Jackson, Michigan, to take a major certification test. But if he was optimistic about his future, why didn’t he file a flight plan? Was it just an oversight, or does this small omission hint at something more deliberate? It’s questions like these that continue to tug at the edges of every theory surrounding this case.

Janice Vaughan

Jim’s disappearance shattered his family’s world. His parents, who later relocated to Florida, refused to give up their search for answers. They even hired a private investigator to explore possibilities outside the official investigation. That investigator raised the chilling theory that Jim’s plane might’ve been stolen—possibly with his involvement—and sold on the black market, leading to foul play. It’s a hypothesis that casts the events of that March morning in an even darker light.

Janice Vaughan

To this day, his parents remain deeply affected by the uncertainty, as do many in the Toledo aviation community who remember Jim’s talent and promise. Unlike some missing persons cases that fade into obscurity, Jim's story continues to grip those who encounter it. The unanswered questions—about his mental state, his intentions, and that vanishing aircraft—have carved a permanent space in the hearts of those closest to him and in the annals of unsolved aviation mysteries.

Janice Vaughan

And when we talk about cases like Jim’s, it's impossible not to reflect on the toll they take on the families left behind, grappling with a void that facts and theories alone can never truly fill. The search for Jim Hysong hasn’t ended for his loved ones, nor has it for the investigators still hoping—someday—for a breakthrough.

Janice Vaughan

And that’s all for today. Until next time, take care, and stay curious.