Incident Details
While en route from Evanston, Wyoming, to Glenwood, Colorado, the pilot encountered cloud-to-ground conditions and diverted toward Grand Junction, Colorado. The pilot reported a navigation problem and contacted the Grand Junction tower to verify his position. Grand Junction did not have radar and experienced difficulty obtaining a fix on the aircraft. They contacted Denver Center, which established radar contact at 1849 MDT.
Response Efforts
The tower informed the pilot of his position, approximately 40 miles northwest of Grand Junction, and provided a frequency to contact Denver Center. Shortly thereafter, the pilot reported being unable to contact Denver Center and soon stated he was losing ground contact. Over the next 35 minutes, both the tower and Denver Center made every possible effort to assist the pilot in orienting himself and to vector him toward Grand Junction. Despite these attempts, the pilot was unable to maintain a heading or an assigned altitude.
Crash and Investigation
The aircraft subsequently crashed in mountainous terrain. During the investigation, the navigation receiver was found set to 117.4 MHz, while the Grand Junction VOR frequency is 112.4 MHz.