Authorities are searching for a plane that went missing Sunday morning after the pilot reported he was having engine trouble. The search area is concentrated on the Stemple Pass area.

Two men, a 50-year-old and a 70-year-old were aboard the twin-engine Piper Seneca, according to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton. The men’s names and hometowns have not been released.

The pilot radioed a friend that he was having engine trouble at 9:23 a.m. Four minutes later, the pilot reported he had hit a tree, Dutton said.

The men were flying as part of a flying group of about a dozen planes headed to Cranbrook, British Columbia. Dutton said one of the planes stopped to alert authorities and then the joined the rest of the group on the way to Canada. The group had had a stopover in Helena before heading north.

A resident on Stemple Pass reported hearing what may have been a plane at about the time the plane went down, Dutton said.

A Montana Aeronautics plane and a Malmstrom Air Force Base rescue helicopter were conducting an air search, while sheriff's deputies and search and rescue teams are searching on ground Sunday evening.

only one plane stopped the rest just kept going and the one that stopped just called the cops then went on his way, with friends like that who need enemies. note these are not Montana pilots I would never do that

If that report is coorect on the other planes kept going, i agree with you. If a friend went down i would think my group of friends would do whatever it took to assure the trobled planes occupants were safe. I just can not beleive anyone would be so selfish. I will try to reserve judgment till all facts come to light.

obviously non refundable deposit for motel rooms is the culprit.

You are assuming facts not in evidence, counselors, who says they were friends? Lots of guided groups flying to Alaska together, for example.

Anyway guy posted over at AOPA who claims he was in group, says all facts are not in play yet, all will be explained in good time etc etc. as to who went onwards and why.

Hope these guys who are down are waiting by a fire somewhere, bruised but not broken. Prolly not

pitman11 wrote:only one plane stopped the rest just kept going and the one that stopped just called the cops then went on his way, with friends like that who need enemies. note these are not Montana pilots I would never do that

Same here. It doesn't matter if they weren't friends at the beginning of the journey. If I'm going somewhere in a group of planes, I'm an instant friend. That was just heartless. The man reported that he hit a tree. Why didn't one or all of the group ask his position and go looking for him? Thanks a lot guys.

Fisherman wrote: [...] That was just heartless. The man reported that he hit a tree. Why didn't one or all of the group ask his position and go looking for him? Thanks a lot guys.

I think it's too early to judge. Who knows if they were all in radio contact? Who knows if the guy who heard the distress call wasn't looking for the crashed plane, but had too leave because he was running out of fuel? Possibly without ever finding the crashed plane?

'Flying group' sounds like if they were flying in close formation, but probably they were many miles apart from each other.
During guided trips I know from Europe, the planes just meet at previously agreed airfields, but during the flight everybody is more or less on his own. Especially if planes with very different cruising speeds participate.

pitman11 wrote:
Two men, a 50-year-old and a 70-year-old were aboard the twin-engine Piper Seneca, according to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton. The men’s names and hometowns have not been released.

Does flying a twin increase your chances of an unintended landing by 100%

Tim

"Radar service terminated, squawk VFR, have a nice day".....

pitman11 wrote:only one plane stopped the rest just kept going and the one that stopped just called the cops then went on his way, with friends like that who need enemies. note these are not Montana pilots I would never do that

They sure aren't Alaskan's either......pretty cold to do that....just keep on truckin....even if one stopped long enough to call the cops.......too cold for me..... They'll learn that what goes around sure comes around ....usually in spades too. Hope noone was hurt.

It can't be assumed that all the airplanes were in contact. Back in January I was flying the 206 home, departing Grayling only minutes after another air taxi's 207 that was also heading to McGrath. About 60 miles from home I began having engine troubles, and was able to see the 207 about 5 miles ahead of me. I wasn't able to get ahold of him on any frequency. Engine guages all seemed ok except for the EGT, but it was shaking pretty good and sounded like I was riding behind a jackhammer and popcorn popper. I kept chugging along and made it home. It turned out to be a sticking valve, later our mechanic found 5 bad lifters, and this was about 15 hours after overhaul. The pilot of the 207 said he would have hung back and followed me if I would have called him on the radio. Unfortunately, sometimes things don't work out that way, despite the best intentions. Hope the downed pilots made out alright.

Once again, the media prints something which may or may not be at all accurate, and folks here jump on the chance to condemn a fellow aviator, without further valid information.

I'd suggest holding the condemnatory comments until the WHOLE, and perhaps accurate story comes out.

The important thing at this point is to hope that the downed aviators are found safe soon.

MTV

OK, does that mean the plane was located? That report is a little confusing, still hope they made it.

Wasn't a happy ending, RIP.

http://www.kaj18.com/news/2-confirmed-d ... r-lincoln/

http://helenair.com/news/local/article_ ... 002e0.html

More sad news.

This question has been asked here but why didn't the group pause to help in the search? I don't mean to blame but would like to understand the reason - this is a fair question. It seems that at least part of the group would have wanted to join in the search effort for a downed member. Their actions aren't representative of the pilot community, group or individual pilots I've associated with. We'd drop anything to assist if it's safe to do so. I consitently file flight plans in AK and expect that if I go missing the local pilots would be out in force looking for me. I think this is true pretty much everywhere.

Of course I don't have all the info and it is possible that it wasn't safe to delay the group's trip or somehow assist in the search, but maybe they could have done more than make an SAR call and continue on their way...I don't know.

I'm about 100 miles west of the accident site. And I would say the weather was marginal VFR where I am that day and as is often the case it stacks up on the west side of the continental divide even more - the same area the crash was found. My guess is that if this was a group flight that none of the pilots were too familiar with the passes in this vacinity and dropping down to look for another plane could have easily lead to another wreck.

The downdrafts and turbulence can get rough going over the divide in good weather. Throw in some marginal visual conditions and it could become a much worse scenario.

Two weeks ago I snuck through this same area on a flight to Helena. Coming from the west I had a fast ride and cinched my seat and shoulder belts tighter going over the divide. My passenger asked me later to rate the turbulence. I said it was a 6 or 7 with 10 being all I want to handle in a single engine Cessna.

From KXLH.com (Montana news):

"Some of the questions surrounding Sunday's plane crash near Lincoln that killed two men were answered on Thursday by law-enforcement officials.

"Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard says it was the seventh plane in a 12-plane tour that was flying from Helena to Alaska. The first scheduled stop was to be in Cranbrook, Canada.

"When pilot Marc Dobrowitsky and passenger Kjell Neilsen hit a tree, the plane that was flying "paired" with them turned around and landed in Lincoln to report the crash, and then continued on their flight schedule.

"Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said, "Why didn't the rest of the tours turn around and come back? It is because they are told not to. They are not trained search pilots. It is up to the lead pilot to turn around and see if they can radio for any help."
(my emphasis in reply to earlier comments here)

"Search & Rescue crews battled harsh weather and rough terrain for three days before locating the plane via an emergency locator transmitter. On Wednesday a helicopter rapelled a flight engineer to the scene to hoist the bodies back out by air. Authorities believe the plane crashed into a tree due to low visibility."

I knew Marc many years ago. So sorry to hear about this ending to his life. And to those who bash the CAP, it was the Montana CAP who found them. Nothing they could do, other than recovery, unfortunately.

ASW.

ASW wrote:"Why didn't the rest of the tours turn around and come back?
ASW.

Not sure. Let's blame eAPIS.