Tap Leads The Colorado Academy Mountain Rescue Team on a mission to locate a missing plane on route from Aspen to Albuquerque, NM

It was monday Dec 13,1966 when a plane carrying Dr. Randy Lovelace, the nations top aerospace physician, his wife and the pilot were reported missing on a flight from Aspen, Colo., to Albuquerque, NM. Tap offered the services of his team of 16 and 17 year old students from Colorado Academy who gladly jumped from their seats and were excused by the head master Chuck Frolicher to join the rescue mission. Within an hour the team was on it way to Gunnison, Colo traveling in a surplus army rig carrying gear for rock climbing and field rations. The boys remembered the 200 mile ride to Gunnison "This was a big one for us-the thing for which we had trained, yet we were all a little afraid."
excerpts from the Denver Post March 27, 1966