Hikes Through Snow In Shorts, Sneakers

If you got your money's worth during ground school, your instructor gave at least passing mention to the need to dress for conditions where you're planning to fly. Alaskan bush pilots wouldn't dream of taking off wearing shorts and flip-flops... but you see plenty of recreational fliers do just that, even in uncomfortably cool weather.

One unidentified student pilot probably won't make that mistake again. The Associated Press reports he was on a solo cross-country flight in a Piper PA28 (type shown above) from Billings to Pryor, WY Tuesday night, when he crashed into a forested slope on Big Pryor Mountain, near Warren, MT.

After surviving the crash with a dislocated shoulder and other minor injuries, he put on a jacket and wool hat, and wrapped himself in a tarp as protection against temperatures which dropped to near zero Fahrenheit.

In the morning, he used his cellphone to call his flight instructor, then hiked out to meet rescuers through a mile of waist-deep snow, wearing his jacket, his hat... and shorts and sneakers.

"He was very cold and cut up by the time we found a place to land and could hike into him," said Jon Trapp, assistant coordinator of Carbon County Search and Rescue.

The pilot was also said to be suffering from hypothermia.

IDENTIFICATION:
Regis#: 432RM        Make/Model: PA28      Description: PA-28 CHEROKEE, ARROW, WARRIOR, ACHER, D
  Date: 03/26/2008     Time: 0325

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Serious     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: WARREN   State: MT   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES AFTER DEPARTURE FROM BILLINGS,
  MT. FLIGHT WAS A NIGHT SOLO CROSS COUNTRY, WARREN, MT

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: METAR KBIL 260353Z 21004KT 10SM BKN095 04/M09 A2998

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Training      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: HELENA, MT  (NM05)                    Entry date: 03/27/2008

FMI: www.faa.gov