COPIED FROM "THE CHALLIS MESSENGER"

Plane crash results in fatality, medical problem may have contributed

BY TODD ADAMS

Custer County emergency services personnel responded to the site of an airplane crash that killed 80-year-old California pilot Robert Oliver in a field near the May airport on Saturday. Doug Hammond photo
An 80-year-old California man was killed when his airplane crashed near the May airstrip in the Pahsimeroi Valley Saturday morning, June 19. Authorities have ordered an autopsy and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause, but the man’s friends and fellow pilots who witnessed the accident believe a medical problem might have contributed to the crash.

Robert K. Oliver of San Luis Obispo died on impact and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Lemhi County Sheriff Sam Slavin. There was no fire or explosion.

Oliver had been flying one of three planes that set out together from the Johnson Creek airstrip in Valley County earlier that morning. Oliver’s friends and fellow pilots landed at the May airport first. Pilot Ty Ferkin saw Oliver’s plane slow down in an apparent stall, then nosedive into a field about 100 yards south of the runway, pilot Hal Stockman told The Challis Messenger.

Stockman said Oliver was probably circling around to land from the west end of the runway, on an east-facing approach as the other two planes had done. Pilots Oliver, Stockman, and the father-son pair of Mark and Ty Ferkin had flown three airplanes from Johnson Creek, stopping at the Challis Airport to refuel before flying on to May for breakfast.

Stockman said he and Ty Ferkin landed their planes ahead of Oliver’s to make sure his faster plane could handle the May airstrip. Stockman radioed Oliver and told him the runway looked fine. Oliver was circling the runway about 500 feet in the air when Ferkin saw the plane slow down. The nose dropped and the plane crashed propeller-first into an agricultural field south of the runway, rotating 180 degrees before coming to rest about 11 a.m.

Stockman believes Oliver was in pain when he pulled back on the stick, slowing the plane down into a stall from which he didn’t recover. Oliver didn’t have a history of heart problems, Stockman said, but may have suffered a heart attack or some other medical problem.

“Robert just crashed!” Ty Ferkin said, according to Stockman. The other two planes taxied over to the east end of the runway and found Oliver dead in the wreckage of his plane.

“It was a shock,” Stockman said of the crash. “That kind of thing happens on a bad day,” he said, but there was no wind and it was clear at the time of the crash. “It wasn’t what you’d expect to see.”

The group of four friends was not in a hurry, Stockman said, adding they had rendezvoused in Boise before flying their three planes on a leisurely trip to visit people in Dell, Montana, making several stops along the way. The group had been flying together for seven years and the pilots had built all three planes from kits, said Stockman. Oliver’s plane was an RV-9A manufactured by Van’s Aircraft of Aurora, Oregon.

Custer County authorities received Stockman’s 911 emergency call at 11:33 a.m. Challis and Pahsimeroi firefighters, the Challis ambulance, Lemhi County Sheriff’s Deputy Lynn Bowerman and Coroner Mike Mitchell responded.

Fuel was leaking slightly out of the wing tanks, Challis Fire Captain Doug Hammond said, so firefighters disconnected the battery to prevent any sparks from igniting a fire. They stood by after using hydraulic tools to free Oliver’s body from the wreckage.

Some of that group (the one's flying Rans S-7S's) stopped by my place Sunday AM. They didn't mention anything so I guess they hadn't heard yet. Bummer.....

I was camped out about 40 miles south in the same valley, (working), and flew home Sat. morning early, and it did not look real good to the north, not horrible, just kinda like it could go either way. I'm kind of surprised the local media (newspaper anyway) didn't mention it. The strip is nothing special as per difficulty, sounds like a health problem?

Well, I just read the news article in full, and damn if two of the pilots there didn't drop by my place and never mentioned it (the crash). Not being critical of them, just their way of dealing with it I guess, too bad.