Flight and Disappearance
The flight departed Boise at approximately 0701 with a reported destination of Smiley Creek, a remote backcountry airstrip. No flight plan was filed. Radar tracked the airplane proceeding directly toward Smiley Creek until contact was lost near the airstrip around 0734. No further communication was received from the aircraft.
Three days later, a concerned individual reported one of the aircraft occupants as missing, prompting a search. The FAA Alert Notice (ALNOT) listed both Smiley Creek and Big Creek—a remote backcountry airport 77 nautical miles northwest of Smiley Creek—as potential destinations. The occupants had accommodation reservations at a tourist lodge at Big Creek starting the night of departure but never checked in.
Wreckage Discovery
The aircraft wreckage was found later that evening about 100 yards north of the north end of the Big Creek airport runway. The aircraft was destroyed, and all occupants were found dead at the scene.
Impact and Evidence
Impact path signatures, along with wreckage condition and distribution, were consistent with an uncontrolled, relatively low-speed impact on a southerly flight path, indicative of an attempt to land at Big Creek to the south (the airport's normal landing direction). The pilot's wristwatch had stopped at approximately 8:29.
Investigators found no evidence of any mechanical problems with the aircraft during an on-site examination of the wreckage.
Weather and Terrain
McCall, Idaho, 37 nautical miles from the accident site and about 700 feet lower in elevation than Big Creek, reported weather conditions equating to a density altitude of about 5,400 feet at 0850.
The Big Creek airport, located in a valley, has a ridge adjacent to and east of the runway. Visual contact with the runway is lost for much of the downwind and turn-to-final portions of the approach and is not regained until shortly before rolling out on final.