Accident Overview
A certificated flight instructor and two certificated private pilots were participating in a mountain flying training seminar as part of a three-airplane flight. The accident airplane was observed following a highway up a canyon toward a 9,600-foot mountain pass.
Flight Path
The airplane was observed at approximately 200 feet above the ground, below the surrounding canyon walls. The terrain rises rapidly at the end of the canyon. The airplane was seen to make a left turn away from high terrain, pull up into a nose-high altitude, and then descend from view.
Collision and Fire
The airplane was found to have struck a pine tree with the right wingtip, then struck another tree, and subsequently collided with a large rock outcropping at an elevation of about 9,000 feet mean sea level. An intense post-impact fire consumed almost all of the airplane, with the exception of portions of the left wing and tail. The density altitude at the time was approximately 12,000 feet.