Well, here is the NTSB report.
I find it interesting that the report states that:
1. Dale deviated from his course and was questioned by ATC.
2. He said he was picking up significant ice and requested a lower altitude.
3. Then he requested to divert to Salmon.
4. Next he informed the controller he was having engine problems and was unable to maintain altitude.
5. Then requested to divert to McCall.
6. ATC suggested headings for McCall and provided the location of Johnson Creek

It appears he iced up and MAY have came down hard and fast.

I wish they could be found soon.
My most heart felt condolences to all those who loved this wonderful man and his family.

Sam


NTSB Identification: WPR14FAMS1
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, December 01, 2013 in Yellow Pine, ID
Aircraft: BEECH B36TC, registration: N36ML
Injuries: 5 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On December 1, 2013, at 1303 mountain standard time, a Beech B36TC, N36ML, lost radar and radio communication in the vicinity of Johnson Creek Airport (3U2), Yellow Pine, Idaho. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The instrument rated private pilot and his four passengers are missing and the airplane has not been located. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The cross-country flight originated from Baker City, Oregon, about 1225 with an intended destination of Butte, Montana.

Preliminary information provided from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) revealed that the pilot was issued an IFR clearance to Butte, Montana with a cruise altitude of 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl). As the flight was about 15 miles east of the Donnelly Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR), the controller noticed that the airplane deviated from his course and questioned the pilot. The pilot reported that he was picking up significant icing and requested to descend to 11,000 feet msl. The controller subsequently cleared the pilot to descend to the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) of 12,000 feet msl.


Shortly after, the pilot requested to divert to Salmon, Idaho, and was subsequently issued clearance to the Lemhi County Airport, Salmon, Idaho. The controller observed the airplane descend below 11,900, which was the minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) and issued an alert to the pilot. The pilot informed the controller he was having engine problems and was unable to maintain altitude and requested to divert to McCall, Idaho. The controller suggested headings for McCall and provided the location of Johnson Creek Airport. Subsequently, radar and radio contact was lost about 0.5 miles northeast of 3U2 at an altitude of 10,100 feet msl. The FAA issued an alert notice (ALNOT) at 1328.

Would loved to have known what was going on in his head during the flight planning phase...........really boxed them into a corner in so many ways.
Wondering if the engine trouble was icing related, like induction ice or prop balance issues?
This at least does finally officially state ice as the main problem as I had mentioned earlier.
Also betting that he couldn't see much out the front to navigate small canyons and avoid ridges in poor vis even if they did make it out of the clouds.
Many pitfalls to winter IFR mountain flying.

The lead-in story at the beginning of this video illustrates the severity of the situation even if you aren't over some of the roughest terrain in the country and just down in the flat of middle America....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VKVeCukAO6 ... KVeCukAO64

Part 1of 3 from NASA, a refresher on icing.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w1c4-aDB4k ... 1c4-aDB4k8

Years ago a friend flying a borrowed twin (a 310 maybe, I think), had some kind of induction icing problem, related to a cowl flap problem, anyway one thing led to another and the fans stopped right over Moose Creek at 12K They were in the clear I believe at this point, but were now dead stick and descending into a socked in situation. They continued to fly the airplane as it went into the soup, and had time to think about how damn cold it was going to be out there once they crashed, and other bad thoughts. They popped out of the goop with less then 500' ceilings, and as it happens just right to set up for what I understand is called the "old Moose Creek" strip, or words to that effect. The landing was gear up, and other then the wings getting beat up by some small trees the plane stayed in one piece, and no fire.

Now here's the amazing part (hell it's all amazing, and especially the way Bill E. tells the story) thanks to a hunting camp nearby, within 10 or 15 minutes of the landing, they were inside a big wall tent with a wood stove and drinking whiskey and fully appreciating how lucky they were. The pilot flew a Helio Courier for a lot of years off a very tight Salmon River strip (Colson Creek) and was and is a real good stick, that helped, the rest was luck.

got to thinking about this a few days ago... I wonder if the search crews checked the lake just up the hill from JC and about 3 miles East... Name excapes me at the moment but I've flown over it so many times I had it on my list of places to hike to one day... anyway frozen over and in a snow storm it would look like a open field and even a snowed over strip...bonanza could have landed or crashed and disapeared through the thin ice...and it could easily be mistook for JC by someone stressed or panicky...just a thought...

SkylaneSam wrote:the pilot was issued an IFR clearance to Butte, Montana with a cruise altitude of 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl)

In my mind this speaks volumes. Pure speculation on my part, but I'd guess he had no oxygen on board, otherwise why not go higher. The airplane was certainly capable of much higher altitude.

If I'm correct:

1. he could only remain at this altitude legally for 30 minutes, not enough time for the duration of the flight.
2. possibly his thinking/judgement during the crisis was slowed/impaired from not enough oxygen.
3. certainly would appear "get home itis" was likely involved.

Late afternoon takeoff, into bad weather, IFR, the entire route over rugged mountainous terrain, relatively low altitude for the circumstances, single engine aircraft, possibly no oxygen, equals zero margins of safety. The accident chain. Sucks. It didn't have to happen.

lowflyinG3 wrote:Would loved to have known what was going on in his head during the flight planning phase...........really boxed them into a corner in so many ways.
Wondering if the engine trouble was icing related, like induction ice or prop balance issues?
This at least does finally officially state ice as the main problem as I had mentioned earlier.
Also betting that he couldn't see much out the front to navigate small canyons and avoid ridges in poor vis even if they did make it out of the clouds.
Many pitfalls to winter IFR mountain flying.

I agree George. I touched on ice too back on page 1. Every year since I have been part of BCP 2006 we have similar accidents we discus. I don't think it will ever stop. I'll bet the guys here who have been flying for 20-30-40 years will tell us this type of accident has happened since before they started flying.

Don't mess with wx

SkylaneSam wrote:As the flight was about 15 miles east of the Donnelly Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR), the controller noticed that the airplane deviated from his course and questioned the pilot. The pilot reported that he was picking up significant icing and requested to descend to 11,000 feet msl. The controller subsequently cleared the pilot to descend to the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) of 12,000 feet msl.

Shortly after, the pilot requested to divert to Salmon, Idaho, and was subsequently issued clearance to the Lemhi County Airport, Salmon, Idaho.

15 miles east of Donnelly VOR is just barely in the mountains. A 180 degree turn takes you to lowering terrain. Any other direction takes you to higher terrain. The fatal piece of the accident chain.

Long thread, but sobering with lots of reminders that bad things can happen, good outcomes still possible, but you can improve your chances with some preparation.
I've had my non-IFR (airspeed and altimeter only) single-engine piston on top of cloud for hours at a time getting from here to there and not wanting to belly-crawl the mountain passes. I keep a few things in mind:
1. Hard to outclimb CU. I persisted once and ended up on top at 18,500, no heater, no compass (long story), I lived to learn a lesson.
2. Every gadget from an iPad to a Garmin handheld to a glass panel Garmin 500/600/1000 has a terrain display page. Learn to use it, if you are coming down through cloud in the mountains it is an easier way to try to line up with a valley and find lower ground. I've even played with the synthetic vision on Air Nav Pro, and that's not a bad option when you're out of options either.
3. Get found: an ELT is the old standby but notoriously unreliable in a crash. Didn't work in this one, didn't work in the Cessna 421B crash on approach to Tofino Airport last week either, doesn't work about 40% of the time. Tracking helps, inReach or SPOT, especially with the 2.5 min tracking. Maybe turn on the ELT/emerg function before impact. I have a spare SPOT 2 now that I give the passenger to keep in his pocket.
4. Be prepared: already covered extensively in this group, gear you wear including footwear, what to pack in the back. Up North we always had an arctic four-star sleeping bag. One summer we were joyriding a short 10 min trip in a Bell 204 wearing just shorts and t-shirts in Northern Alberta and unexpectedly had to put down on a sandbar for a mechanical. The black flies just about did us in before the cavalry got there.

Great information and video above on icing! I am going through my instrument training now and it is one subject that I think a lot of the schools don't spend a lot of time on. It is one that we should all refresh ourselves with and really give it a good analysis. If we question going, why risk it? Wait it out for a day or two and see if the weather gets better. I believe the "get there itis" definitely is a factor in this situation and when he saw he was picking up ice, he should have landed asap.

I am going to bet it was induction icing in this case. I wonder what the outside ambient temp was.

Tragic!

Fly safe my brothers and sisters!

I am not an ice flyer. I have had a few brushes with it and it is amazing how fast it comes on. The wind screen on the Maule covered up in 30 seconds except for a 12-18" area over the defroster vents. This was nothing compared to bad icing.

G'Day

Yup, and good points Rob for sure...this whole deal with the bo makes me ill....a half mile north east of JC to me puts that a/c about where the old 172 crash was when they turned up the wrong canyon headed to bigcreek or salmon in this case...the thought of coming down thru 11 there with possbily a non-running motor and already a lot of weight on board makes me cringe...my condolences for sure to that fam and all involved...this emergency during broad daylight in that region would be a good test for most of us..damnitall.

In all honesty, I rarely see an accident report that shows something new and different from the accidents I learned about when I was first learning to fly, 41 years ago. Probably the single biggest differences have to do with turbine singles, like TBM 750s and Pilatus 12s, and with the incredible doodads available to anyone with enough money to buy them. GPS was not even a military option back then, so today's ability to go "direct to" and use all these fabulous electronic thingies hasn't changed the outcomes much.

People still fly over loaded. They still run out of gas. They still take non-FIKI airplanes into ice. They still go today and die when waiting a day would be an uneventful flight. They still crash in the mountains at night, when going around would only take an extra hour. They still stall/spin turning base to final. They still land gear up. They still spend way too much looking inside when they should be looking outside, so they still run into each other. And the worst of all, VFR pilots still fly into IMC with the same results 178 seconds later.

Nope, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Cary

The high pressure that's pushing all the needed moisture north of us has made ideal flying weather.
Went out in the 180 today and spent an hour flying slow circles. I didn't feel like a test pilot so no landing at Johnson creek. Pistol creek and indian creek were both bare ground. So I landed at indian creek for a tire check. The snow has diminished on the south side of the mountains. If anyones bored flying to there regular coffe shop ,fly to Johnson creek . Its a worthwhile waste of gas.

Per a news report on kvue.com the pilots brother is organizing another search effort based out of McCall and is accepting volunteer offers to help from " highly-qualified folks ". Dellon Smith, the pilots brother, is an Alaskan Commercial pilot. He listed his contact number in the article and it is 907-360-7854.

good luck to them...just visited the site and they have more info to go on... seems they've narrowed search area based on additional radar contacts...looking at the last air search video it seems pretty remote that the crash site could be seen from the air...

I am assuming they are getting ground crews into the area to search? Even if they find it, I would imagine they will just extricate the human remains and leave the scene for NTSB next spring. ;o(

The brother of the pilot and others found the plane today. It was a fast end....
RIP