I just heard about a missing Piper Archer with two adults and a 9 yr. old child and two dogs, between Fillmore UT, and Gillette WY on KSL.com. If anyone's flying around in that large area, keep your eyes out for this missing family and there airplane!

Yup..... Sad deal for sure.......

That is more than just a large area! It's 450 miles in a straight line, and in a heavily loaded Archer, that can't be done in a straight line--too many rocks in the way. It also can't be done in one shot in an Archer, especially if it has to zig zag around the rocks. So it could be just about anywhere.

Cary

Cary wrote:That is more than just a large area! It's 450 miles in a straight line, and in a heavily loaded Archer, that can't be done in a straight line--too many rocks in the way. It also can't be done in one shot in an Archer, especially if it has to zig zag around the rocks. So it could be just about anywhere.

Cary

Great, think the CAPies will put up a 500 mile TFR??

Sorry to hear about another missing small plane like this.

Its unfortunate. Seems like there has been a lot of aircraft going down lately.

BigNickMontana wrote:Its unfortunate. Seems like there has been a lot of aircraft going down lately.

It's typical when seasons change. Habits die hard. Drivers used to driving 80 mph in the summer keep doing it when the weather turns to shit and end up in the ditch, or embedded in the front end of someones grill. Pilots think they can fly the same ol mountain routes that is of little challenge in the summer months, yet when winter shows up their brains turn to mush and forget that winter weather systems move in very fast and can create low altitude condensation zones with zip viability in an instant, trapping the hapless brain farted pilot with nothing to see and nowhere to go. It's no surprise, It's just business as usual.

But all is not lost. Good things are on the horizon. As the body count increases, people will get back into the routine of actually thinking and assessing risks and coming to grips with their mortality when it comes to embarking on a 300 mile flight across the Rockies when there is a 100 mile an hour storm ripping across Oregon. It just takes a few sacrificial and unfortunate souls to remind us of the realities and benefits of thinking and planning a little before charging off thoughtlessly into a foreboding sky.

It was good weather that day. It's a bad time of year to ditch a plane though, especially if they tangled with the Uintas.

Nosedragger wrote:It was good weather that day. It's a bad time of year to ditch a plane though, especially if they tangled with the Uintas.

yeah, especially a white plane....

Our guess is the plane is within 10 miles of Fillmore, at or around a ridgeline..


http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/l ... appearance

The mountains are not that bad flying the by the highway there, but I have nearly deposited my lunch on the ceiling in the area just to the east of town there with a lot less wind than they have been experiencing.

The country in between the rocks and the destination is simply huge and barren, but largely landable. Hoping for good news.

exodus wrote:

BigNickMontana wrote:Its unfortunate. Seems like there has been a lot of aircraft going down lately.

It's typical when seasons change. Habits die hard. Drivers used to driving 80 mph in the summer keep doing it when the weather turns to shit and end up in the ditch, or embedded in the front end of someones grill. Pilots think they can fly the same ol mountain routes that is of little challenge in the summer months, yet when winter shows up their brains turn to mush and forget that winter weather systems move in very fast and can create low altitude condensation zones with zip viability in an instant, trapping the hapless brain farted pilot with nothing to see and nowhere to go. It's no surprise, It's just business as usual.

But all is not lost. Good things are on the horizon. As the body count increases, people will get back into the routine of actually thinking and assessing risks and coming to grips with their mortality when it comes to embarking on a 300 mile flight across the Rockies when there is a 100 mile an hour storm ripping across Oregon. It just takes a few sacrificial and unfortunate souls to remind us of the realities and benefits of thinking and planning a little before charging off thoughtlessly into a foreboding sky.

Very sad This flying is serious shit. This isn't a Sunday walk in the park. You better plan and use your brain or bad things will happen. And NEVER NEVER mess with the wx. Hope they get found alive!

G'Day

Anyone have any updates on this story?? The news stations here in Utah have pretty much dropped it. I see the CAP planes taxi by our hangar all day long so they must still be engaged in the search.

The weather on Sunday seemed pretty good for flying. Not too windy and high ceilings. I'm curious about this one. There have been some good points made above. Along with a greater respect for weather and mountains, I wish there was a greater desire for pilots to have PLB's or 406 Mhz ELT's or both. This plane could be a few days away from being buried in snow until late March and that would be the ultimate punishment to these families.

SixTwoLeemer wrote: I wish there was a greater desire for pilots to have PLB's or 406 Mhz ELT's or both.

That's been my takeaway too.

SixTwoLeemer wrote:Anyone have any updates on this story?? The news stations here in Utah have pretty much dropped it. I see the CAP planes taxi by our hangar all day long so they must still be engaged in the search.

The weather on Sunday seemed pretty good for flying. Not too windy and high ceilings. I'm curious about this one. There have been some good points made above. Along with a greater respect for weather and mountains, I wish there was a greater desire for pilots to have PLB's or 406 Mhz ELT's or both. This plane could be a few days away from being buried in snow until late March and that would be the ultimate punishment to these families.

I heard the National Guard was permitted to join the illustrious CAP in the search today.

denalipilot wrote:

SixTwoLeemer wrote: I wish there was a greater desire for pilots to have PLB's or 406 Mhz ELT's or both.

That's been my takeaway too.

This and many more incidents like this make me for sure add the 406Mhz ELT to my "Must Update" list when I get my plane in the shop. I will always have my SPOT on too. So hopefully that would double my chances of being found quick if the S#%! hits the fan

SixTwoLeemer wrote:Anyone have any updates on this story?? The news stations here in Utah have pretty much dropped it. I see the CAP planes taxi by our hangar all day long so they must still be engaged in the search.

The weather on Sunday seemed pretty good for flying. Not too windy and high ceilings. I'm curious about this one. There have been some good points made above. Along with a greater respect for weather and mountains, I wish there was a greater desire for pilots to have PLB's or 406 Mhz ELT's or both. This plane could be a few days away from being buried in snow until late March and that would be the ultimate punishment to these families.

Word on the street is......................

The 182 that went down in Wyoming had the ELT switch in the OFF position.. Geez, if you are gonna carry one at least turn the frickin thing on.

Sad news:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... ounty.html

14 mi due east of the departure airport. Right about where I had experienced severe turbulence many years ago. Very tragic.

And right about where Ben said they'd find it. I noticed the cap didn't find this one either.

lesuther wrote:Sad news:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... ounty.html

14 mi due east of the departure airport. Right about where I had experienced severe turbulence many years ago. Very tragic.

Interesting you would speak about turbulence in that area. I met a guy at the fuel pumps in Richfield who told me that he had purchased his current 182 after his V-tail Bonanza was totaled. I asked for details and he said his Bonanza was an insurance write-off after he had buckled the fuselage and twisted the tail in flight...and lived to tell about it!! I asked him where and he pointed to the mountains between Richfield and Fillmore. Scary.

Prayers to the families of the deceased.

Damn
That especially hurts when young pax go down. My thoughts and condolences are with the families.

I wasn't there and I'm not second guessing the pilot, but 14mi due east of Fillmore after maybe filling up and loading 3 folks and toting Thanksgiving gear might be asking a lot of the Piper. It's a 5000ft climb to the ridge about 10mi away and it has a steep eastern face, kinda like a mini-Sierra Nevada. If they were going to Gillette, the magenta line is closer to interstate 15 for a ways north of Fillmore and there's that big pass through the mountains at Nephi just up the road... Maybe it was the kind of day where just clearing the ridge looks good enough, and that valley on the other side IS really pretty.

Maybe he didn't want to go over the pass to Scipio. I know, I once had a paper bag pass me on that stretch and I was going the speed limit and getting the best gas mileage ever. We will never know, but I'm painting a mental caution sign on that part of the map. Hwy 50 up that valley is beautiful, just like the Owens Valley, but you don't want to be flying up either of them at the wrong time.

YB

Yellowbelly wrote:Damn
That especially hurts when young pax go down. My thoughts and condolences are with the families.

I wasn't there and I'm not second guessing the pilot, but 14mi due east of Fillmore after maybe filling up and loading 3 folks and toting Thanksgiving gear might be asking a lot of the Piper. It's a 5000ft climb to the ridge about 10mi away and it has a steep eastern face, kinda like a mini-Sierra Nevada. YB

Add to that two big dogs that were estimated to weigh another 200+ lbs.. Bull dog and a Mastif.