China National Aviation Corporation Flight 81

On 20 September 1946 at 13:45, Flight 81, operated by China National Aviation Corporation, departed from Xichang en route to Kunming, with a scheduled continuation to Chongqing. At 14:07, about twenty minutes after departure, the communication with the aircraft was lost due to bad weather conditions. Passengers and crew There were 28 passengers on board, including Wang Qingnong, a reporter from the Central News Agency. Captain Andrew W. Longbotham, First Officer Tuan Paotai (段保泰), radio operator Liang Chunlin (梁春霖) and flight attendant Huang Li (黄利). == Search and rescue missions ==

On 20 September, after the aircraft went missing,, CNAC dispatched two aircraft to conduct search flights over the Xichang area, while local authorities under Commander of the also organized ground search efforts. On 24 September, reports claimed that wreckage had been found near Tianbao Mountain, but this was later proven false. Poor weather conditions hampered search operations, and one of the search aircraft became stuck in mud during landing. == References ==