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The size of the area and the mountainous terrain make searching for
downed small aircraft difficult. It has historically taken several days
or even weeks to locate crash sites. In one instance, the crash site was
located 19 years after the accident. The organized Search and Rescue
units in the area were not immediately activated so that fresh resources
would be available to send into the wilderness area once the aircraft
was located.
The air search resumed Tuesday morning about 7:45 am. The initial search
area was 2,000 to 3,000 square miles the majority of which is accessible
only by helicopter (weather permitting), horseback or on foot. The
Forest Service resumed a ground search around the perimeter of the
wilderness area with approximately 45 personnel. There is no cell phone
service in much of this area and radio communications is spotty at best.
At 1:00 p.m., a Forest Service ground team encountered two bow hunters
who said they heard what sounded like a plane in distress Monday
afternoon. The hunters directed them to the general area where they
believed the aircraft had been. The ground team sighted the wreckage at
the top of the Tunnel Creek drainage near a small unnamed lake. The
sighting was reported to the search headquarters and a helicopter was
dispatched.
The crash site location was confirmed. The pilot reported that he
observed a body next to the wreckage and that there was no sign of
survivors. A small team from the remote command post at Essex staged at
a near-by gravel pit and rendezvoused with the helicopter at 2:29 p.m.
The ground teams were recalled at 2:30 p.m.
Beginning at 2:53 p.m., Undersheriff Curry (ALERT flight medic and
deputy coroner), Deputy Middleton (ALERT flight medic) and SAR member
Jay Crowley (EMT and basic Man-Tracker) were shuttled to the wreckage
site. A second helicopter arrived at the gravel pit staging area at 3:28
p.m.
Curry, Middleton and Crowley searched the area surrounding the wreckage
and were unable to find any indication of survivors. Curry reported that
one body (later identified as Ken Good) was lying intact next to the
plane and that the fuselage of the aircraft was destroyed by intense
fire. There appeared to be only minimal charred remains of the remaining
victims. Curry reported the crash appeared to be un-survivable. The team
noted that there no tracks or drag marks any where in the area even
though their own boots were leaving tracks.
The crash site was about 6,600 feet above sea level at the edge of a
small hanging valley. It was at the timber line and just below the
snowline. The weather conditions at the site were marginal and the cloud
ceiling was dropping rapidly.
Good’s body was packaged by the team at the crash site and flown out
“long line” by the second helicopter. Curry, Middleton and Crowley
departed the crash site in the original helicopter. The cloud cover
continued to descend prohibiting further air travel that day to or from
the crash site.
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