We lost some some Utah pilots up near Owyhee this past weekend. There doesn't seem to be much info so far. I was wondering if any of you guys in that area had any more info on this Navion crash. Was there bad weather up there?? Sunday in SLC was pristine but I'm not sure if that is when they went down. This is sad- I believe I saw these guys at the airport a week or two ago.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7496744

http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accide ... /index.cfm

Supposedly the guy just bought the Navion. My better half will be up there in the morning to investigate the wreckage so she can process the insurance claim. It was a Father and two adult sons.

I was working out of Jerome last Friday andthe guy came out over me on 27 going NW as I was landing on 9 to pick up another load. Seemed normal to me.
There was definetly a chance for weather to the west. Whether that's what got him, who knows.

KTVB had some long distance aerial photos of the wreckage tonight. It appeared to be fairly scattered in pieces along a ridge top in the Owyhees.

I flew from Lovelock NV to Nampa Id on Friday trying to get to Johnson Creek. left LOL about 1300 and had a ceiling of about 7000' when I left. Ceilings dropped VERY (really) low with occasional light to moderate rain north of Sod House VOR until I got to the Boise Valley. Visibility was 10 or more except around the rain which was easy to skirt around. Made it to within 15 mi south of Cascade and had a wall of cloud covering I'm guessing the last gorge south of the lake so I turned back to S67 and got a room. Made it to JC the next day. The Garmin 496 with weather really IMO didn't tell the whole story as far as cloud cover and moisture.

Did the satellite mosaic not show the cloud coverage?

dawgdriver wrote:Did the satellite mosaic not show the cloud coverage?

No only what appeared to be rainfall and embedded cumulus. And I know there is a time laps but if the rain showers were at say 12 o'clock the green mosaic was not where I was see it. And it's not like I had high winds moving the showers, at cruse speed it was a smooth ride.

Are we talking about the same thing? The satellite mosaic screen shows shades of gray to black depending on cloud height and thickness. There is no color directly corresponding to rain echo as on the NEXRAD screen. I find it quite helpfel to find breaks in the cloud deck and to help determine the thickness of clouds in the distance. It gives me a some idea where the probability of upcoming light to heavier rain may form in the near future.

A friend of mine was the mechanic on the aircraft as well as a good friend of the pilot. They sent out an SOS on Monday asking for people to look for the aircraft. I guess they hadn't been missed by family until then, a few days after the fact. He said he was a good pilot in a good bird. They are pretty broken up about it. Very sad.