Backcountry Pilot

[Bonanza Man offline]

Sparky Imeson was giving dual in a Husky yesterday when they disappeared in the Townsend, MT area. At about 10 am this morning the wreckage was located. One person was waving at the search plane. Don't know who that was or condition of other person. National guard helicopter and PJ's enroute. They are in rugged terrain and only a helicopter will get them out.

[Zzz]

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/06/04/helena_top/000aanewplane.txt

[Hottshot offline]

Her is some more info

Not sure what information is out, but J.C. was airlifted into Helena by an Air Force medi-vac team. I was there when he was transferred by stretcher to the ambulance> He talked with his daughter Tammy and appeared lucid, although was unable to sit up.

The medi-vac crew was told that the other person (Sparky) was in good condition and decided yesterday to hike out for help. No word on him at this time although a ground search is in progress.

Amazing result, as most of the pilots in the search (that I spoke to) were not very optimistic of anyone surviving. The plane apparently burned on impact and is a charred site.

The accident site is between Helena and Townsend in the northeast corner of the Elkhorn Mountains---in the Beaver Creek drainage.

Jerry Cain will have more info as he apparently got some pictures of the accident site from the air after the medi-vac crew left the site.

Thanks for all your concerns and prayers for J.C.--- truly amazing he survived and got out of there. Hopefully Sparky will be found soon.

[Zzz]

Always a relief to hear this kind of outcome, since we so often hear the other kind.

Hopefully they find Sparky and he doesn't have to hike too far. If anything's gonna kill him, it's gonna be those cigarettes.

[dontlookdown offline]

Thanks for the news. Please keep us updated on anything further.

[mtbowhunter offline]

Sparky was found by a helicopter about an hour ago. The link to the Helena newspaper on Zane's post has the updated information in it.

Joe.

[Bonanza Man offline]

A National guard helicopter found Sparky walking out.

[Zzz]

Among the photos for the story on the Helena Independent site, they have this one, simply titled "Darrell."

<img src="http://images.pictopia.com.edgesuite.net/perl/get_image?provider_id=497&ptp_photo_id=1341609&size=320x320_mb">

So, who's Darrell?

[ShamuPilot offline]

So, who's Darrell?

Isn't he Darrell's other brother?:lol:

All joking aside I'm glad to hear they are going to be OK. I'm very interested to find out what happened and how they saved their butt's. They must have done a lot of things right to survive something like that.

[Stol offline]

Here's more to the story...

I hope this link works for you guys.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/s ... hp?t=18327

[Zzz]

Thanks Stol. Here's the post from Hydroguy2 on the Vans Air Force site:

just got home from the hospital after a real short visit with J.C., who was the pilot of the downed plane here on Sunday. Here is the unofficial version of some of the errors made and some of the things that helped them survive. J.C. is still on morphine with lots of injuries, so this is all subject to change.

at a little after 1000, J.C. and Sparky briefed their training flight. Sparky had just come back from a flight with a different pilot. Conditions were ideal, CAVU & calm. He removed his survival vest. J.C. thought about his vest and helmet he usually wears while mountain flying, but discounted putting it on(it was within reach if he needed it).
They took off from the grass strip around 1030. A few minutes later he transmitted in the blind(no one received) that they were heading west of Canyon Ferry lake into the Elkhorn Mountains. He wanted to know more about canyon flying and thermals, so they turned toward Beaver Creek drainage. They had flown up 1 drainage, with a slight downdraft, as they got deeper, they turned across and flew out riding the opposite updraft. Next they proceeded to fly up the next drainage. The conditons seemed the same very slight downdraft towards the head of the canyon. J.C. said they made a normal lowspeed turn to the opposite side, ready to ride the updraft out of the canyon, (remember they are low and slow). the next thing he knew they were in a severe downdraft, it instantly stalled the plane. He nosed forward to fly the plane and knew they were going to impact the steep rocky terrain, as they would not be flying out of the draft. He had no time to pick a spot, it pick them. He kept the plane straight at impact and flew it until it stopped. He knew they hit hard and was amazed they were alive. His BAS harness had saved him, dazed he realized his foot was getting hot....FIRE! They managed to get clear of the plane, broke backs, head injury for Sparky, broken leg & sternum for J.C. The fire consumed the plane and every piece of survival gear in <20 minutes. Time is now ~1130

now to survive
after ~45minutes, Sparky decided he was well enough to try to walk out, they were <6miles to a small town. J.C. tried to convince him to stay near the crash site. J.C. kept a journal noteing the time. At 1645 the first plane searching for them flew overhead. He struggled to stand in order to signal the plane, it flew on. He figures maybe he should get closer to the wreckage. This is when he realizes the plane is no longer blue and white, but burnt to a crisp. They had gone down in the new growth of an old forest fire. Lots of charred logs among the new green. The planes could not see him. In order to be seen, He made the decision to stand up incase a plane came back soon. 4-5 planes made passes almost directly over him that evening.

All they had gotten out if the plane was what he was wearing.... jeans and a tshirt. Luckily it was one of the nicest nights Montana has had this spring. As the sun, went down it got cold, he gather small bows from the pines to make a bed. The pain was tolerable, but with the broken sternum, he had no strength. He painfully pulled charred rocks from the burn area and clutched them for warmth. The morning brought more planes and helicopters. He said he could hear them flying every canyon.

~0930, after many aircraft and helicopter had flown right over him. A Silver State helicopter from the local training school, noticed something shiney. It had already passed this area earlier, but now the sun angle was such that a piece of the prop/spinner(one of the only unburnt pieces) lit up and caught the attention of the searchers. SAVED!

[mtv offline]

I have no doubt we flew over them several times that evening. There were at least five or six airplanes searching the Elkhorns the afternoon of the accident.

An amazing outcome to a terrible accident. The key to their survival was the fact that they flew it till it impacted, as opposed to stalling and losing control.

Thank heavens they made it.

MTV

[Berk offline]

Is it okay if we discuss the relevance of the factors that created this inextricable situation, so that we can all learn how not to repeat it?

I'm always very leary about flying *up* canyon, particularly when low & slow, and it's too narrow to do a turn to lowering terrain, comfortably.
There may be some times when this may be necessary - the question then becomes - when would these choices be appropriate, and when not?
Thanks for everyone's input.

The very best wishes to the pilots who have survived this mishap.

Berk

[SamIntel offline]

This is from todays newspaper (Helena IR), it has more info:

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/0 ... 607_01.txt

[MarkGrubb offline]

If you want to really understand weather and terrain flying you should earn a glider rating in mountainous terrain. Such knowledge will DRAMATICALLY improve your likelihood of NOT crashing in rough terrain like this.

I would propose that it is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy if you intend to fly aircraft in rough terrain.

Each year 100's of pilots fly sailplanes deep in the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and Appalachians for 100's to 1000's of miles and the accident rate for these aviators is shockingly low.

Glad these two are healing.

Respectfully, Mark

[Zzz]

Split thread to After the crash: Survival gear etc