WICHITA, Kan. — The father of the Kansas man who was flying a helicopter missing in Nepal said Wednesday he is confident his son will be found OK as the search continues for the missing aircraft.

Ronald Norgren said his 31-year-old son, Capt. Chris Norgren, was flying the U.S. Marine helicopter that disappeared Tuesday while delivering disaster aid to earthquake victims. The helicopter was carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers.

"He is a survivor — that is the reason I know he will make it back," his father said.

Marine Corps officials came to the family's Wichita home on Tuesday evening to inform Norgren and his wife that their son was missing. The father said they reassured them there are no indications the aircraft crashed.

"He is a good kid, a sharp kid," Norgren said. "I've got all the confidence in the world he will come back and they will find him OK."

Chris Norgren was sent to Nepal to build shelters after the first earthquake hit, and the military wanted him after the second quake to fly disaster relief supplies.

"You gotta know the kid," his father said. "He has lived life fuller than I have, and I am 60 years old."

Norgren said his son has degrees in aerospace engineering and mathematics. He has worked in a state park in Alaska, where he ended up facing a bear, the father said.

Since joining the Marines, he has been stationed in Japan and South Korea.

Searchers have not found any wreckage or a hole, fire or smoke — things his father contends are good signs.

On Wednesday, Army helicopters were in Nepal scouring the Sunkhani area northeast of Kathmandu for the missing helicopter.

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