[Aaron]

At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 8, park rangers received a call from the Civil Air Patrol that they had received an ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) at 12:30 p.m. and another one at 4:24 p.m. potentially from a downed plane within the park near Milner Pass.  Park rangers glassed the area from multiple locations on Trail Ridge Road and did not see any sign of an airplane or smoke.

Around 8:00 p.m. two Civil Air Patrol fixed wings were dispatched to the area and they confirmed the ELT beacon in upper Forest Canyon.  They also reported seeing two points of light, possibly fire, in the same general area.  Last night, park rangers began hiking in to this remote area from Gore Range Overlook off Trail Ridge Road.  Rangers searched until 2:00 a.m. and resumed searching at 5:00 am.  They reached the two victims at 6:40 a.m. this morning.

The pilot was Jim Michaels, 54, and one passenger, his daughter Tonie, 18.  They walked away from the crash with just minor injuries.  The plane was a single engine fixed wing American Champion Aircraft manufactured in 2009, and owned by Michaels Air Service, LLC of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.  The owner of the aircraft is Jim Michaels.  Mr. Michaels is an experience pilot flying since age 16.  His daughter, Tonie, is also a pilot and has just gotten her license.

The crash site is in heavy timber.  The plane’s wings were folded back and the plane came to rest against a large fir tree.  The cockpit was intact but the canopy was sheared off.  The plane did not catch fire. The Michaels did not lose consciousness and got out of the plane because of concern the plane might catch on fire.   They built a shelter from plane debris and trees and waited out a passing storm.  They built two signal fires.  Then they saw a plane overhead and added airplane fuel and a tire to one of the fires to create black smoke.

They left Oconomowoc Wednesday and stayed in Greeley that night.  The flight plan called for them to continue to Aspen, Telluride, Leadville and back to Oconomowoc.

A helicopter from Grand Teton National Park stationed here to assist with the Cow Creek Fire, was staged at the Alpine Visitor Center early this morning.   A landing zone was selected about a mile from the crash site and the survivors were walked to the landing zone where they were flown out to Alpine Visitor Center arriving at 9:23 a.m.  No ambulance was requested. Rangers are assisting the victims and at this time, the Michaels’ do not want to speak with the media.

Park officials are in contact with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board and will be cooperating on an investigation of the cause of the crash.

To the best of our knowledge, there have been seven aircraft crashes with eleven fatalities since 1948, the last being in 2000 near Comanche Peak with two fatalities.  There have been five aircraft crashes with fifteen survivors since 1945, the last being in 1994 near Hallett Peak with three survivors.

There is no imminent threat of the signal fires spreading but we have firefighters on scene to put out the fires.

View the full article

[Aaron]

Here are the pics...




--Aaron

[Malok]

To have survived that is amazing! Thanks for keeping us up-to-date Aaron!

[Aaron]

Yes, definitely amazing! You're welcome.

--Aaron

[Rhonda]

Very fortunate people. What a frightening experience that must've been.

[Wyldfyre63]

Like I said in the shoutbox...doom & gloom (but notice I loooked.what does that say about me?)

PS: I gave you some "reputation points" since you were very informative.

This post has been edited by Wyldfyre63: 09 July 2010 - 02:20 PM

[mwilson]

Thanks for the updates, Aaron. It does look like they are two very fortunate individuals.

[Bill 007]

No more cracks about my driving now.

Bill
(Two very lucky folks, right there!)

[Igloo Ed]

Bill 007, on 09 July 2010 - 02:54 PM, said:

No more cracks about my driving now.

Imagine the tow bill on that one.

[Bill 007]

Igloo Ed, on 09 July 2010 - 04:03 PM, said:

Imagine the tow bill on that one.

I guess they break it up and back pack it to a clearing and then use choppers? Or would they leave it??

Bill

[GLENNinPA]

Here's another article. Pretty much same info.
Clickie

[Mark Zemmin]

And they walked away basically unharmed. Amazing story.

Mark

[ScottO]

Bill 007, on 09 July 2010 - 04:06 PM, said:

I guess they break it up and back pack it to a clearing and then use choppers? Or would they leave it??

Bill

I would think at a minimum they'd want to remove any fuel, oil, or other hazardous chemicals. Wouldn't want the gas tank to rust and dump its contents. Assuming the fuel tanks didn't rupture in the crash.

Another question is why were they flying over the park? Isn't that illegal?

Scott

[Aaron]

ScottO, on 09 July 2010 - 05:09 PM, said:

Another question is why were they flying over the park? Isn't that illegal?

Scott

Touring the park in a plane/helicopter is illegal. I don't think they close off the airspace above RMNP for normal traffic.

--Aaron

[Rhonda]

You would think that someone on TRR would've witnessed that crash at that time of day.