PA-28, Pilot Remain On Slopes Of Mount Shasta

Attempts to recover the wreckage of a Piper PA-28 from the slopes of Mount Shasta in California have been called off because of high winds at 11,000 feet, where the aircraft and pilot who died in the accident now lie.

Winds of more than 35 miles an hour at elevation prevented a California Highway Patrol helicopter from hovering over the crash site long enough to drop recovery crews near the body of 69-year old Robert Ayers, who went down with his ship June 18th in poor visibility.

"There is no way we can tell in advance if the conditions will be right to get the airplane off the mountain," Siskiyou County Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Nicholson told the Siskiyou Daily News. He said the best bet would be to sortie out early in the morning, when winds were most likely to be calm.

The CHP helicopter was to drop recovery workers on the site early Friday morning. They were to secure Ayers' body and the wreckage. Afterward, a Bell UH-1 was to have arrived to hoist the wreckage from the mountainside.

There was no immediate word on when the salvage operation would be rescheduled.

In addition to wind and other weather hazards, the wreckage, at 11,400 feet, is below an unstable overhang of boulders -- some of which have already come crashing down the slope on top of the PA-28's remains, Nicholson said.

FMI: www.chp.ca.gov/html/aos.html