Plane Impacted Mountainous Terrain More Than A Month Ago, Wreckage Recently Located

The wreckage of an airplane that impacted mountainous terrain in Idaho over a month ago has been located through and extensive search that was conducted both on the ground and online, but poor weather in the region is preventing the recovery of the aircraft and the five people who were fatally injured when it went down.

Those on board were identified as Dale Smith, an executive of a Silicon Valley software company; his son and the son’s wife Daniel and Sheree Smith; and his daughter Amber Smith and her fiance, Jonathan Norton.

The plane carrying the five people went down December 1 on a flight from eastern Oregon to Montana following the Thanksgiving holiday. Daniel and Sheree Smith lived in Montana.

Valley County Sheriff Lt. Dan Smith said that the wreckage from the accident had been located Saturday, but an incoming storm was likely to delay the recovery efforts, according to a report from the online site Newsmax.

The official search had been called off in mid-December, but the family hired a private search firm that analyzed online satellite images and other aerial photos taken by GoPro cameras mounted on airplanes that flew in a grid pattern over the suspected accident area in an effort to locate the downed aircraft. The wreckage was located after a pilot said he thought he saw something reflecting from ground, and the searchers began to concentrate on imagery from that region. That led to a ground search, and the wreckage was located.

Dale Smith had reported engine problems with his airplane and had asked air traffic controllers for information about any back-country airstrips where he could make an emergency landing. The plane impacted terrain shortly after his last communication, and a post-impact fire apparently ensued.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov