Beech B36TC Bonanza, N36ML: Fatal accident occurred December 01, 2013 in Yellow Pine, Idaho

National Transportation Safety Board - Aviation Accident Final Report: http://app.ntsb.gov/pdf 

National Transportation Safety Board  -   Docket And Docket Items:   http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

National Transportation Safety Board  -  Aviation Accident Data Summary:   http://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

NTSB Identification: WPR14FA094
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, December 01, 2013 in Yellow Pine, ID
Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/28/2014
Aircraft: BEECH B36TC, registration: N36ML
Injuries: 5 Fatal.

NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The instrument-rated pilot was on a 234-nm instrument flight rules (IFR) cross-country flight over mountainous terrain; instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time. During the flight, the pilot notified a controller at the Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) that the airplane was picking up too much ice and requested to divert to an airport located about 96 miles ahead of his position and to descend to 11,000 feet mean sea level (msl). The controller informed the pilot that he could descend to 12,000 feet msl for terrain clearance. Over the following few minutes, the ARTCC controller notified the pilot several times that he had to maintain an altitude of 12,000 feet or above due to terrain clearance, all of which the pilot acknowledged. Following a low-altitude alert issued by the controller, the pilot stated his altitude was 11,500 feet. Subsequently, the pilot advised the controller that he was having engine problems and needed to go to an airport immediately. When the controller asked the pilot to verify his altitude, the pilot responded that he was at 10,000 feet. The controller then asked the pilot if he was able to climb, and the pilot responded “negative.” The controller advised the pilot of an airport that was 24 miles behind his position and asked if he wanted to divert. The pilot responded affirmatively and asked for guidance to the airport. About 1 minute later, the pilot advised the controller that the airplane had “just lost its engine.” The controller advised the pilot that the airport was at the pilot’s six o’clock position and suggested a heading of 253 degrees, adding that another airport was right below their position. There were no further communications with the accident airplane. Wreckage and impact signatures were found consistent with a wings-level, slightly nose-low descent into trees and terrain. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. Airmen’s Meteorological Information (AIRMETs) for IFR and mountain obscuration conditions, low-level wind shear and turbulence, and moderate icing were issued for the flight track area and timeframe. In additional to the AIRMETs, multiple pilot reports included reports of light rime-type icing between 8,000 feet and 13,000 feet throughout the region and National Weather Service data was consistent with the pilot reports and AIRMET that were current at the time. The investigation was unable to determine whether the pilot obtained weather information regarding his planned flight. It is likely that the loss of engine power was due to a combination of structural and induction icing during the continued flight in icing conditions in an airplane that was not certified for flight in icing conditions.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot’s continued flight into known light-to-moderate icing conditions over mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident was the loss of engine power due to induction icing.

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On December 1, 2013, about 1303 mountain standard time, a Beech B36TC, N36ML, was destroyed when it impacted terrain while maneuvering near Yellow Pine, Idaho. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The instrument rated private pilot and his four passengers were fatally injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The 234 nautical mile cross-country flight originated from Baker City Municipal Airport (BKE) Baker City, Oregon, about 1222 with an intended destination of Butte, Montana.

Information provided from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the flight departed from BKE under visual flight rules. At 1226, when the aircraft was about 10 miles south of BKE at an altitude of about 6,200 feet, the pilot contacted the FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) requesting to activate an IFR flight plan to Butte, Montana. At 1230, the controller issued the accident airplane the BKE altimeter and identified the airplane was located about 13 miles south of the BKE VOR. The controller then cleared the flight to Butte as filed and directed the pilot to climb and maintain 13,000 feet. The pilot acknowledged the clearance and altitude. The controller followed with a clearance for the flight to proceed direct to the Donnelly VOR.

At 1240, the controller advised the pilot that the McCall Municipal Airport (MYL), McCall, Idaho, altimeter setting was 30.04. The pilot acknowledged about one minute and six seconds later. At 1256, the controller asked the pilot to confirm he was level at 13,000 and established on victor airway 121. The pilot responded with "negative, three six mike lima's picking up too much ice uh we'd like to divert to uh Salmon." Shortly after, the pilot requested to descend to 11,000 feet. The controller advised the pilot to maintain 12,000 feet for terrain clearance. The pilot acknowledged 12,000 feet.

At 1257, the controller then asked the pilot if he would like to divert and the pilot subsequently verified that he would like to divert to Salmon. The controller cleared the pilot to Salmon via direct to the Salmon VOR and again instructed the pilot to maintain 12,000 for terrain clearance. The pilot acknowledged with "maintain one two thousand six mike lima."

At 1300, the controller asked the pilot to confirm he was still on victor airway 121 and the pilot responded with "establishing victor 121." The controller directed the pilot to turn right 15 degrees to be established on the airway. The pilot acknowledged. The controller then issued the pilot a low altitude alert, instructing him to check his altitude immediately. The controller stated that the minimum IFR altitude was 11,900 and instructed the pilot to climb and maintain 12,000 feet immediately. When asked to say altitude, the pilot advised that he was at 11,500 and climbing. The controller reiterated to the pilot that they had to maintain 12,000 feet for terrain.

At 1301:04, the pilot advised the controller that he was having engine problems and 15 seconds later advised that he needed to "go to three uniform two immediately." The controller asked the pilot to verify his altitude, which the pilot responded he was at 10,000 feet. The controller then asked the pilot if he was able to climb, and the pilot responded "negative." The controller advised the pilot that MYL was 24 miles behind him and asked if he wanted to divert. The pilot responded affirmatively and asked for guidance. The controller suggested a heading of 253 degrees and reminded the pilot that the minimum IFR altitude was 11,900.

At 1302, the pilot reported that "36ML just lost its engine" and asked the controller to "say again heading for six mike lima." The controller advised that MYL was at the pilot's six o'clock position and suggested a heading of 253 degrees, adding that 3U2 was right below their position. The controller stated that he had information for the airport and asked the pilot if he'd like that information. There was an unintelligible response that could not be associated with any specific aircraft. The controller attempted to relay communications via other aircraft in the area and broadcast 3U2 airport information to N36ML in the blind. There were no further communications with N36ML.

The FAA subsequently issued an Alert Notification (ALNOT) at 1328. The United States Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (ARCC), Civil Air Patrol, local law enforcement, Idaho Air National Guard, Idaho Department of Aeronautics, and volunteers commenced search and rescue operations throughout the area where radar contact was lost. There were no reported ELT signals within the area of the last radar target.

The wreckage was located in snow covered wooded mountainous terrain on January 10, 2014 by a ground search team about 1.5 miles east of the last recorded radar target.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot, age 51, held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane ratings. A second-class airman medical certificate was issued to the pilot on March 27, 2013, with the limitation stated "must wear corrective lenses." The pilot reported that he had accumulated a total of 1,050 total flight hours at the time of his most recent medical application. The pilot's logbook was not located.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The six-seat, low-wing, retractable-gear airplane, serial number (S/N) EA-375, was manufactured in 1983. It was powered by a Continental Motors TSIO-520-UB3F, serial number 527486, rated at 300 horsepower. The airplane was also equipped with a McCauley 3A32C406-C adjustable pitch propeller.

Review of partial copies of the aircraft logbooks revealed that the most recent annual inspection was completed on June 3, 2013, at a tach time of 1,611.85 hours. The engine was overhauled on March 19, 2010, and subsequently installed on the airframe on April 1, 2010, at a tach time of 1,275.67 hours.

Review of the Raytheon Aircraft Company model B36TC pilot operating handbook, section 2, heading KINDS OF OPERATIONS states in part "…flight in icing conditions prohibited."

Section 3, Emergency Procedures, revealed that under the heading "BLOCKED INDUCTION SYSTEM", a checklist included the following:

"1. Alternate Air T-Handle….PULL AND RELEASE
2. See INDUCTION SYSTEM BLOCKAGE later in this section. "

The heading titled "INDUCTION SYSTEM BLOCKAGE", stated in part "…if the alternate induction air door becomes stuck in the closed position, it can be opened by: ALT AIR PULL & RELEASE T-Handle (lower left sub panel)…….PULL AND RELEASE." The section further states "with the induction air filter completely blocked, the alternate air opening will provide sufficient air to allow the engine to develop maximum continuous power up to approximately 13,000 feet. Above that altitude, the manifold pressure will drop at a rate of approximately 1 inch per 1,000 feet."

Section 7, Systems Description, heading INDUCTION SYSTEM ICING states in part "…the possibility of induction system icing is reduced by the non-icing characteristics of the Bonanza's fuel injected engine and an automatic alternate induction air source. Under certain conditions, however, impact ice can form at several points in the induction system. If the air intake or filter becomes clogged with ice, a spring-loaded door in the air intake duct will open automatically and the induction system will operate on alternate air. If the alternate air source door becomes frozen in the closed position, a pull-and-release T-handle is provided to force the door open. With a completely blocked induction filter, full power can be expected up to approximately 13,000 feet."

The airplane was last refueled at Baker Airport's self-serve pump on November 27, 2013. The amount of fuel was undetermined due to a system recording error.

METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) staff meteorologist prepared a factual report for the area and timeframe surrounding the accident.

The National Weather Service (NWS) regional radar mosaic for 1300 depicted a large area of echoes to the north of the accident site and no significant echoes over the accident site or over the McCall area, which was reporting light rain at the time of the image. The NWS Weather Depiction Chart for 1200 depicted an area of IFR conditions by a shaded contour over the Washington and Oregon coasts, and a separate area of eastern Washington and northern Idaho, surrounded by an area of marginal visual flight rules (MVFR) conditions. A second area of MVFR conditions was depicted extending over eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and into western Wyoming, which included the accident site. Two small areas of IFR conditions were embedded within the region.

The closest weather reporting facility to the accident site was from McCall Municipal Airport
(MYL), McCall, Idaho, located approximately 27 miles west at an elevation of 5,024 feet and along the immediate route of flight. At 1251, recorded weather conditions were wind from 140 degrees at 11 knots, visibility 9 miles in light rain, ceiling overcast at 2,400 feet above ground level (agl), temperature 2 degrees Celsius (C), dew point 0 degrees C, altimeter 30.04 inches of mercury (Hg), remarks: automated observation system, sea level pressure 1017.9-hPa, hourly precipitation 0.03 inches, temperature 2.2 degrees C, dew point 0 degrees C.

The closest upper air sounding or rawinsonde observation (RAOB) was from the NWS Boise
(BOI), Idaho, located approximately 90 miles south of the accident site at an elevation of 2,867 feet. The 1700 sounding depicted a surface based temperature inversion to 1,500 feet agl with the lifted condensation level (LCL) immediately above at 1,914 feet agl (4,781 feet msl), and a convective condensation level (CCL) 7 at 4,988 feet agl (7,855 feet msl). The expected top of the clouds was at 13,465 feet. The freezing level was identified at 8,455 feet with the sounding indicating a relative humidity greater than 80 percent from 8,000 to 12,000 feet, with temperatures below freezing that supported icing conditions.

At the accident airplane cruising level of 13,000 feet the wind was from 300 degrees at 53 knots with a temperature of -8.5 degrees C, with a potential for trace of rime type icing. The icing potential increased at lower levels and reached a 77% probability of moderate clear type icing at 8,500 feet. Between 12,000 and 11,000 feet there was an approximately 80% probability of light clear icing with relative humidity of 95 percent and temperatures between -7 degrees and -5 degrees C.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite number 15 (GOES-15) satellite image for 1300 depicted several bands of low, mid, and high clouds over the area. The radiative cloud top temperature over the last radar target was -59.16 degrees C, which corresponded to cloud tops near 35,000 feet and indicated cirrostratus clouds. Several lenticular cloud bands were also observed supporting mountain wave activity over Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern Nevada, with overcast clouds over the accident site.

There were 6 pilot reports of light to moderate rime icing conditions below 18,000 feet scattered over Idaho prior to the accident, and 9 reports after the time of the accident. There were also several reports of mountain wave activity and of light to moderate turbulence at altitudes above 18,000 feet. After the time of the accident there were also 2 urgent pilot reports from aircraft reporting moderate to severe turbulence in the vicinity of Idaho Falls over southern Idaho.

A full series of Airmen's Meteorological Information (AIRMETs) issued by the NWS were current for the timeframe and intended route of flight. The active AIRMETS included AIRMET Zulu for moderate icing, AIRMET Sierra for mountain obscuration and AIRMET Tango for low-level windshear and turbulence.

The pilot of N36ML logged on to the Direct Users Access Terminal System (DUATS) and filed an instrument flight plan at 1200 on December 1 with a requested altitude of 13,000 feet. No formal weather briefing information was requested on the DUATS system and there was no record of any contact with the FAA contract Flight Service Station. It is unknown if the pilot utilized any additional sources of weather prior to the flight.

For further information, see the weather study report within the public docket for this accident.

WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION

Examination of the accident site by representatives of Textron Aviation under the supervision of the NTSB IIC revealed the airplane impacted terrain about 1.6 miles northwest of the Johnson Creek Airport (3U2) at an altitude of about 7,619 feet msl. The initial point of contact was identified by a group of about 5 topped trees, about 40 feet in height. A swath of 7 topped trees, each reduced in height as the debris path progressed on a heading of about 078 degrees magnetic. Portions of right and left wing, and tail cone were observed within the swatch of topped trees.

The aft portion of the fuselage, vertical stabilizer, rudder, and elevators were located about 104 feet from the initial point of contact. A large impact crater was observed immediately adjacent to the aft fuselage. Portions of left and right wing structure were observed between the aft fuselage and the forward portion of the fuselage and engine, which was located about 138 feet from the initial point of contact. All major structural components of the airplane were located within the wreckage debris path.

The engine and remaining attached forward airframe structure was found inverted and exhibited fire damage. A portion of the right inboard wing was found folded upward and positioned over the forward fuselage structure. The aft portion of the fuselage exhibited fire damage. The cockpit area was fire and impact damaged. Continuity was established from the cockpit engine controls forward to the engine.

The wreckage was recovered to a secure location for further examination.

Examination of the recovered wreckage was conducted at the facilities of SP Aircraft, Boise Idaho, on June 2, 2014 by the NTSB IIC and representatives from Textron Aviation and Continental Motors.

Examination of the recovered airframe revealed that the fuselage was fragmented into multiple sections and exhibited fire damage. The engine remained attached to the airframe via various wires and hoses. The induction system from the induction air filter aft was intact and fire damaged. The alternate induction air door remained attached and exhibited thermal damage. The spring was intact and remained attached to its respective mounts. The control cable was thermally damaged and remained attached to the actuator arm, however, it was separated about an inch from the attach point. The remaining portion of the cable was continuous to the cockpit area. The actuator arm functioned by hand and the alternate induction air door opened and closed freely.

The instrument panel was thermally damaged with multiple instruments displaced.

Partial flight control continuity was established throughout the airframe to all primary flight controls. Multiple separations in the flight control system were observed. All separations exhibited signatures consistent with tension overload.

The right wing was displaced from the fuselage and separated into multiple sections. The leading edge structure of the inboard portion of the right wing from the flap aileron junction to the wing root was displaced to the main wing spar. The left wing was displaced from the fuselage, separated into multiple sections, and exhibited slight thermal damage. The leading edge structure of the left wing from the flap aileron junction was separated from the main spar inboard to the wing root. A circular impression was observed on the outboard portion of the separated leading edge structure.

The vertical stabilizer was separated from the airframe. The leading edge of the vertical stabilizer exhibited a circular impression on the left side from the base of the stabilizer to about mid height. The right side of the vertical stabilizer exhibited buckling from the impression aft to the aft spar. The rudder was separated from all its mounts. The rudder was bent and buckled throughout and exhibited fire and thermal damage.

The left horizontal stabilizer was separated from the fuselage. The inboard portion of the left stabilizer was bent and buckled from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The left stabilizer aft spar was mostly separated from the stabilizer. The right horizontal stabilizer was separated from the fuselage. The leading edge of the right horizontal stabilizer from the root to about mid span was torn away from the spar and bent downward. A portion of the right horizontal stabilizer leading edge skin was compressed aft to the spar and exhibited a circular impression. The leading edge structure exhibited a downward circular impression at about mid span.

Examination of the recovered Continental TSIO-520-UB (3) engine revealed that the starter and the right magneto were separated from their respective mounts. All six cylinders remained attached. The exhaust remained intact and exhibited impact damage. The induction system for cylinders 2, 4, and 6, were impact damaged and 1, 3, and 5 were intact. The induction crossover balance tube was crushed upward. The top sparkplugs, fuel pump, vacuum pump, and starter adapter were removed. All six cylinders were examined internally using a lighted borescope and were unremarkable. The engine was rotated by hand using a hand tool attached to the crankshaft propeller flange. Rotational continuity was established throughout the engine and valve train. Thumb compression and suction was obtained on all six cylinders.

The top spark plugs were removed and examined. The number 1 and 6 spark plugs were damaged. All six spark plugs were oil coated and exhibited normal wear signatures.

The turbocharger was intact and remained attached to the engine and exhibited thermal damage. The turbocharger would not rotate by hand, however, debris was observed within the turbine side. The waste gate was intact and thermally damaged. The turbo controller was intact and thermally damaged. The relief valve was intact and thermally damaged.

The propeller was separated from the crankshaft propeller flange. Propeller blade No. 1 was separated from the propeller hub and exhibited slight twisting near the blade tip and chordwise striations at about midspan. Propeller blade No. 2 was intact and exhibited slight aft bending . Propeller blade No. 3 was bent aft about 12 inches from the blade tip and exhibited slight leading edge gouging at the tip.

No evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunctions was observed with the recovered airframe and engine that would have precluded normal operation.

For further information, see the NTSB Accident Site, Recovered Airframe, and Recovered Engine Examination Summary Report within the public docket for this accident.

MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION

The Valley County Coroner conducted an autopsy on the pilot on January 17, 2014. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was "…severe blunt force trauma."

The FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, performed toxicology tests on the pilot. According to CAMI's report, volatiles, and drugs were tested, and had positive results for 46 (mg/dL, mg/hg) Ethanol detected in Muscle and no Ethanol was detected in Liver

TESTS AND RESEARCH

A Garmin GPSMap 396 was recovered from the wreckage and subsequently shipped to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory, Washington, DC for further examination. Power was applied to the GPS unit and the data was successfully downloaded. The GPS unit contained 40 recorded sessions from July 13, 2013 to December 1, 2013.

Two flights were recorded on November 27, 2013, one from BKE to Butte, Montana, and one returning to BKE. The tracks to and from Butte were predominantly a direct course over mountainous terrain.

Review of the track log from the day of the accident depicted a departure from runway 8 at BKE. The flight continued on a southerly course until turning to an easterly course at 1231. The data depicted that the flight leveled off at an altitude of about 13,000 feet, at 1237. The flight continued on an easterly heading with altitudes fluctuating around 13,000 feet and groundspeeds between 200 and 228 knots. At 1244, a decrease in groundspeed was observed while altitude remained about 12,900 feet. For the following 6 minutes, the recorded groundspeed decayed to the slowest recorded groundspeed of 165 knots, however, it then increased to a maximum of 200 knots while the recorded altitude fluctuated between 12,800 and 13,000 feet.

The data further depicted that at 1953, a decrease in groundspeed and a descent from an altitude of about 13,000 feet started. The descent continued for about 4 minutes before a climb was initiated from the lowest recorded altitude of 11,591 feet. Throughout the following 2 minutes, the flight ascended to an altitude of about 12,014 feet and groundspeed of 139 knots. The data then depicted a constant descent and fluctuating groundspeeds between 123 knots and 179 knots for about 4 minutes to the end of the recorded GPS data. During the last 2 minutes of recorded GPS data, heading changes to the southeast, northeast, and east were observed. The last recorded GPS position was located about 0.19 miles west of the accident site at an altitude of 7,989 feet, groundspeed of 123 knots, and ground track of 083.5 degrees.

For further information, see the Recorders Lab GPS Report and attachments within the public docket for this accident.

 NTSB Identification: WPR14FAMS1
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, December 01, 2013 in Yellow Pine, ID
Aircraft: BEECH B36TC, registration: N36ML
Injuries: 5 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On December 1, 2013, at 1303 mountain standard time, a Beech B36TC, N36ML, lost radar and radio communication in the vicinity of Johnson Creek Airport (3U2), Yellow Pine, Idaho. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The instrument rated private pilot and his four passengers are missing and the airplane has not been located. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The cross-country flight originated from Baker City, Oregon, about 1225 with an intended destination of Butte, Montana.

Preliminary information provided from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) revealed that the pilot was issued an IFR clearance to Butte, Montana with a cruise altitude of 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl). As the flight was about 15 miles east of the Donnelly Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (VOR), the controller noticed that the airplane deviated from his course and questioned the pilot. The pilot reported that he was picking up significant icing and requested to descend to 11,000 feet msl. The controller subsequently cleared the pilot to descend to the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) of 12,000 feet msl.

Shortly after, the pilot requested to divert to Salmon, Idaho, and was subsequently issued clearance to the Lemhi County Airport, Salmon, Idaho. The controller observed the airplane descend below 11,900, which was the minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) and issued an alert to the pilot. The pilot informed the controller he was having engine problems and was unable to maintain altitude and requested to divert to McCall, Idaho. The controller suggested headings for McCall and provided the location of Johnson Creek Airport. Subsequently, radar and radio contact was lost about 0.5 miles northeast of 3U2 at an altitude of 10,100 feet msl. The FAA issued an alert notice (ALNOT) at 1328.

Click here to see live web cam from Johnson Creek Airstrip.

http://new.tomnod.com/nod/challenge/idsar2013

https://www.facebook.com

http://registry.faa.gov/N36ML 

The Smith family photographed during their Thanksgiving holiday at a rented ranch near Baker City, Oregon. Left to right: son Craig Smith; Janis Smith; Dale Smith; son Nathan Smith; daughter Amber Smith and fiance Jonathan Norton; son-in-law Michael Christensen and wife Crystal; son Daniel Smith and wife Sheree. 
(Courtesy Janis Smith) 

 

San Jose Mercury News 

Five hearses carry caskets of the family which died in a Dec. 1 plane crash in Idaho's backcountry. 

 Flowers on the casket of Silicon Valley tech executive and avid pilot Dale Smith are placed in the hearse after the funeral for Smith and four family members at the LDS Church in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Feb.1, 2014.

At left, Dale Smith's daughter Crystal Christensen waits as caskets are ready to be placed in the hearses after the funeral for Silicon Valley tech executive and avid pilot Dale Smith and four family members at the LDS Church in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Feb.1, 2014. 

Caskets are ready to be placed in the hearses at the funeral for Silicon Valley tech executive and avid pilot Dale Smith and four family members at the LDS Church in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Feb.1, 2014. 

At right, Dale Smith's father, Steve Smith is consoled by Ken Elsey after the funeral for Dale Smith and four family members at the LDS Church in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, Feb.1, 2014 

SAN JOSE -- With five wooden caskets arrayed before them, the families of five people killed in a small plane crash over the holidays said the tragedy has only reinforced their Mormon faith and their belief that the dead have gone on to a better place. 

 During a nearly three-hour service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in East San Jose on Saturday, the victims were remembered for their faith and dedication -- especially to their Mormon missions that, in many cases, proudly shaped their lives.

Dale Smith's wife, Janis, was not scheduled to speak. But in impromptu comments, she told the mourners that the outpouring and efforts of thousands of people to find her family have brought her "an overwhelming feeling of peace. ... This experience has brought out the best in all of us."


Her husband, Dale, was flying the Beechcraft Bonanza that disappeared Dec. 1 in rugged, snowy Idaho terrain, killing Smith's son, Daniel, 26; Daniel's wife, Sheree Anne (Chalmers); Smith's daughter, Amber, 20, and her fiance, Jonathan Norton, who were scheduled to be married the day after their bodies were found Jan. 10.

Barry Chalmers, Sheree's father, told the gathering that "our loved ones are in a place filled with family, filled with a great light. ... I know that they're surrounded by beauty."

Steve Smith remembered his son's sense of adventure and curiosity that began as a 9-month-old, when his dad brought him along on his flying lessons. Later, as a toddler, young Smith would fall asleep on the tank of his father's motorcycle, his helmet bouncing up and down with the vibrations, as his father drove for hours getting supplies to repair a dilapidated home in Chico.

"Life was an adventure ... that he felt was something not to be wasted," Steve Smith said.

Bryan Moore, Daniel Smith's uncle by marriage, said sports, video games and other skills came easily to Smith, just like his ability to adapt and make friends during his two-year mission toJohannesburg, South Africa.

There were other missionaries named Smith in South Africa, so Daniel Smith differentiated himself on his first day by identifying himself as "Agent Smith," like "The Matrix" movies.

Smith was patient and loving, especially with children, Moore said, and would have made an excellent father.

"Surely he will be a fantastic father after this life," Moore said.

Crystal Christensen called her sister, Amber, "my best friend" -- especially after Amber moved to Provo, Utah, last year to take care of Christensen for four months while Christensen underwent cancer treatment.

Christensen called her sister "selfless and loving." She not only washed Christensen's dishes, but also pushed her wheelchair so they could go shopping for clothes.

It was nothing new for Amber.

As a 4-year-old, Amber had saved her baby brother from being accidentally run over by their father as he backed out of the garage. As an 11-year-old, long before she went on to study accounting at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Amber saved up her weekly $1 allowance to buy a $450 tool shed that she used as a clubhouse.

At BYU-Idaho, one of Amber's professors had her substitute when the professor could not be in class. Other professors wrote that she was a "bright light in class," Christensen said.

"There's something much better and brighter waiting for her," Christensen said.

Amber's fiance, Norton, was remembered by his mother, Lynette Norton, as a young man who slept with scriptures and would often ask that his mother pray for him.

She never prayed so hard as after his plane went down in December, an experience that made her feel even more connected "to the love and humanity" that surrounded the search and subsequent outpouring of grief and compassion.

"It is the gift I will always treasure," Lynette Norton said.

http://www.mercurynews.com

A highly emotional funeral service was held Feb. 1 in San Jose, Calif., as five members of a family were remembered and laid to rest after being killed in a small plane crash in Idaho's backcountry.
 
The plane went missing Dec. 1 when Silicon Valley executive Dale Smith piloted himself and four family members on a trip from Oregon to Montana. The plane disappeared east of McCall after Smith reported engine trouble. The search had numerous stops and starts due to inclement weather, and an official search was called off Dec. 12. A primarily-volunteer search continued and on Jan. 10, Smith's family members posted on Facebook that they had spotted the wreckage. 

This morning's San Jose Mercury News reports that five wooden caskets were placed in front of mourners during a three-hour service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in East San Jose as the victims were remembered for their faith and dedication. 

The Mercury News reports that Smith's widow, Janis, was not scheduled to speak but in impromptu comments said that support from thousands of people had brought her "an overwhelming feeling of peace."



 

Jonathon Norton and Amber Smith 
 Courtesy photo

The Johnson Creek Airstrip webcam shows some snow in the afternoon on Deember 2, 2013. Inset: Image of Dale Smith 

 

VALLEY COUNTY -- Arthur Stock camped for weeks, enduring frigid temperatures in the Idaho wilderness to help search for plane crash victims he'd never know. 

 Since the first of December, the Smith and Norton families had been searching for five of their loved ones who went missing when pilot Dale Smith's airplanes vanished in the Idaho wilderness.

Both families asked for Idahoans who knew the area to assist in search efforts after the Valley County Sheriff's Office scaled back their involvement in the search.

Arthur Stock felt destined to respond to the call.

The Valley County man whose backcountry skill and comfortability made him well-suited for the task, said he simply had the time and knowledge, and thus volunteered.

Stock told KTVB he'd heard about the missing plane and the call for help through the news. When he looked outside at the mountains, he felt a pull towards them, and to go help in the search.

"I'm an avid outdoorsman; I do know the mountains up here, the climate, but no, I have not done anything like this before, I've never been involved in a search and rescue situation," said Arthur Stock.

Stock spent much of December aiding in the search. He carried more than 80 pounds of gear into the mountains near Yellow Pine in sub-zero temperatures.

"I have no reason to not help out," he said. "I had the time, I had the ability, and with those two you don't want to just sit around and feel like you could help out."

Stock joined other volunteers and family members scouring the area around Yellow Pine for weeks. Due to the rough terrain, Stock said the party searched nearly everywhere but where the crash actually happened.

"You had sheer cliffs off of one side, deep snow on the other side, thick trees, downfalls," he said. "So the terrain was difficult and overwhelming at times."

Searchers eventually got a snow cat from California, allowing them to go up the mountain to the area of the crash. The day the plane was found, there were eight people out on the mountain. They split into two man teams. Stock went out with Dellon Smith, the pilot's brother.

"And within minutes we come upon the scene," Stock said. "So it happened very unpredictably. It was almost as if something was pulling us in that direction because there was no wavering in our tracks, we had just gone straight to it."

Stock said he went up in the search planes and flew over that area several times, but never saw anything. Even from the ground, he said it was hard to see.

"When you come upon the wreck, visibility it was very hard to distinguish between that area and anything else in the area because of the snow fall," said Stock. "So for us to come upon it was just a miracle."

Stock said he formed a bond with other searchers and the family members, including the pilot's brother, Dellon Smith.

"As we continued to search for his family, we became pretty close. I would say he's a brother of mine," said Stock.

The victims' family bought Stock a plane ticket to San Jose, so he can be at the funeral planned for the victims.

Source:  http://www.ktvb.com

Stock lives in a renovated barn he finished in rural Valley County 

  Credit: Mike di Donato / KTVB

 Arthur Stock 

 Credit: Mike di Donato / KTVB

 

Stock works with volunteers to identify areas to search for the missing plane 

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Gearing up for a night in the mountains

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Deren Martinez/ KTVB

Credit: Idaho National Guard

 The Idaho Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk 

Credit: Idaho National Guard 

The slope of the landing zone forced the helicopter crew to to a running onload/offload since the helicopter couldn't actually land. The rotors were spinning at all times. 

Credit: Idaho National Guard

The terrain near Johnson Creek, with landing site

Credit: Idaho National Guard

The terrain near Johnson Creek 

Credit: Idaho National Guard

The helicopter landing zone with responders on the ground.

Credit: Idaho National Guard 

Foggy weather conditions were a factor in Wednesday's operation

Five bodies recovered from plane crash in Idaho mountains 

VALLEY COUNTY, Idaho – Authorities in Valley County say they have recovered five bodies from the wreckage of a plane that crashed in the central Idaho mountains last month.

Lt. Dan Smith with the Valley County Sheriff's Office says deputies were assisted Wednesday afternoon by a Blackhawk helicopter from the Idaho Army National Guard.  He says it took two days to get into the remote, snow-covered mountainside, then dig out and remove the bodies.

It appears all five people on board the single engine Beech Bonanza died on impact.  Smith says there is not much left of the plane.  However, they were able to find the serial number to confirm it is the plane they have been looking for since it went missing on Dec. 1.

The wreckage was located last Friday by Dellon Smith, who is the brother of the pilot, Dale Smith, of San Jose, Calif.

Smith was flying from Baker City, Oregon to Butte, Montana when he lost contact with air traffic controllers while near the Johnson Creek airstrip in Yellow Pine, Idaho.

Smith's son Daniel, his wife Sheree, along with his daughter Amber and her fiance Jonathan Norton were also on the plane.

Lt. Smith said deputies did recover wallets from one of the passengers and the pilot to identify them.  The other bodies will have to undergo DNA testing to confirm their identities.

It will now be up to the NTSB to recover the wreckage.  They have not be up there yet.  Smith says Valley County officials have been sending them photos and talking with them on the phone.  No word on when that will take place.

A series of photos sent to KTVB by the Idaho National Guard document the rough, steep terrain surrounding the crash site.

Colonel Tim Marsano said the slope of the landing zone required helicopters crews to do a running onload / offload, meaning the helicopter could not land.

http://www.ktvb.com

About a foot and a half of new snow in the Central Idaho mountains since Friday has made a plane crash investigation and recovery even more difficult, according to a Valley County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

"Due to the extreme terrain and recent snowfall, we haven't set a date for recovery," Valley County Sgt. Rorie Snapp said Tuesday morning. "They are evaluating it."

A team of private searchers located San Jose pilot Dale Smith's plane Friday afternoon. The plane, which was missing since Dec. 1, crashed on a ridge less than two miles from the grass airstrip at the Johnson Creek Airport near Yellow Pine.

The 51-year-old pilot perished in the crash, as did the other four people on the plane (Smith's daughter, Amber, and her fiance Jonathan Norton, both students at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, and Smith's son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Sheree Smith of Glasgow, Mont.).

Snapp said sheriff's investigators went out to the crash site on snowshoes on Monday and Tuesday.

"They can get snowmobiles to the top of the ridge, but it's another mile to the crash site," Snapp said. "The snow is to their waist. With snowshoes, it's coming to their hips."

Snapp said the terrain is very steep and there are many logs on the ground. The sheriff's office has an ATV that it may use to shuttle people to the ridge, she said.

Also, she said, a couple of volunteers from Idaho Mountain Search & Rescue Unit were dispatched to help.

Source: http://www.idahostatesman.com

• A woman in Canada scoured images obtained by Boise pilots 
• A Californian delivered a Snowcat for the search

Boise pilots Bill McGlynn, left, and Jim Hudson, right, gathered Saturday at pilot Kevin Bentley's Meridian home to talk about the huge public effort to find Dale Smith’s ill-fated plane. The trio shot video and pored over images. 

DARIN OSWALD 

~ 

 “Everybody came together on this search,” said Pineshi Gustin, of Vancouver, B.C., of the effort to find the plane. “It wasn’t just one person.” 

  PROVIDED BY PINESHI GUSTIN

A 61-year-old grandma in Vancouver, B.C., studied more than 10,500 images of the densely forested area near Johnson Creek Airport in the Central Idaho mountains over the past week, hoping to find a clue on the whereabouts of a small plane that went missing Dec. 1.

On Thursday, she flagged a group of about 2,300 fellow online searchers on the “TOMNOD: Smith Plane Search” page about an abnormality she found.

Pineshi Gustin and other volunteers used their home, work and laptop computers to hunt for Dale Smith’s white, single-engine Beech Bonanza, which went missing after the pilot reported icing and engine failure.

“I don’t specifically look for an image of plane. I’ve learned over time that metal and glass reflect back to the camera and the satellite image, and that’s what I’m looking for,” said Gustin, who has made a hobby of studying satellite and video images since record-setting aviator Steve Fossett went missing in the Nevada desert in 2007.

In the two images she posted at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, she used red arrows to point to reflective objects on the ground.

The eagle-eyed Canadian woman, who sometimes uses a magnifying glass, helped bring a search team on the ground to within two-tenths of a mile of the wreckage, according to the team’s search report. The bright reflection Gustin saw wasn’t the plane — possibly ice in the trees — but searchers came across the plane as they continued along the ridge.

The search team found the plane in deep snow on Antimony Ridge — about 1.7 miles from the north end of Johnson Creek’s airstrip — according to Boise area pilots Jim Hudson and Kevin Bentley, who captured the images Gustin flagged during a flight Monday.

Bentley had brought a GoPro camera, often used in extreme action video photography, for the flight. But he turned to his Android cellphone after a GoPro malfunction. He held the cellphone up against the window of the plane, later processing the images to connect them with GPS coordinates.

“To be able to find it, especially through images, is a miracle and a testimony of people’s faith and determination,” said Blake Adams, a friend of Dale Smith’s in San Jose who coordinated volunteers on the Facebook page.

None of the five people aboard Smith’s single-engine Beech Bonanza survived the crash, according to the Valley County Sheriff’s Office. Aboard the plane were Smith, 51, a San Jose software company executive; his daughter Amber and her fiance, Jonathan Norton, both students at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg; and Smith’s son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Sheree Smith of Glasgow, Mont., where they worked digitizing documents.

The plane apparently burned after crashing, Dale Smith’s wife, Janis, told a San Jose television station Friday.

“There’s this huge feeling of relief that they’re found, but sadness that they really are gone,” Janis Smith told the NBC affiliate. “Up until now, it was always they’re hanging out in a hot springs somewhere, or a cabin somewhere. And now we know that is not the case. But on the other hand, they went quickly. They didn’t suffer with cold and hunger and thirst.”

The recovery effort Saturday was thwarted by poor weather. The Valley County Sheriff’s Office plans a meeting to determine options for the recovery.

“We were thinking that with the weather, we probably wouldn’t find it until spring,” Valley County Sheriff Patti Bolen told the Associated Press. “There was a lot of effort put in by the family and friends who decided that they were going to go out there and find it, or at least make a good attempt.”

The plane is buried in about 3 feet of snow, and more was falling Saturday.

The official search for the plane ended Dec. 12. That’s when restrictions on private pilots were lifted, and their intensive efforts began.

Hudson and Bentley, along with fellow Boise pilot Bill McGlynn, marveled Saturday about the effort made by people from all walks of life, near and far. All three flew the area more than once to get fresh images; they said Boise air traffic controller and pilot Andy Marosvari did five flights over the area.

Getting the video was the easy part.

“Next thing you know, you’re spending hours and hours — you keep looking at these images,” McGlynn said.

They pointed to the efforts of others, including Jim Higgins of Chico, Calif., who transported a snowcat to Yellow Pine to aid a private ground search team making one last push to find the plane this week.

Dellon Smith, brother of the pilot of the plane, was part of the search team. Earlier this week, he said a radar ghost point, or ping — a point beyond the plane’s last confirmed location — had helped them narrow the search to about a mile east of the Johnson Creek Airport.

Though the plane has now been located, many questions remain, including why Smith flew the plane into an area in such poor weather.

Smith, who obtained his pilot’s license in 2005, flew “angel missions,” transporting aid to hurricane victims and others in need, Dellon Smith said.

McGlynn said there were warnings about ice, clouds and wind in the Central Idaho mountains Dec. 1. When the plane began to ice up, Smith — just halfway into the flight from Baker City, Ore., to Butte, Mont. — tried to divert to Salmon, the pilots said.

Ice can quickly debilitate a plane. Not only does it weigh down the plane with hundreds of extra pounds, affecting lift, but it can also impact engine function.

“It builds really fast. In 2 minutes, ice can be fatal,” said McGlynn, a retired Hewlett-Packard vice president and longtime backcountry pilot. “He was in for 5 minutes.”

Source: http://www.idahostatesman.com 

Dale and Janis Smith, center, surrounded by their family in 2012: In the back row are, from left, son Daniel Smith, Daniel's wife Sheree, son-in-law Michael Christensen and daughter Crystal Christensen. Bottom row: daughter Amber Smith, son Nathan and son Craig Smith. Dale, Amber, Daniel and Sheree were on the plane that disappeared Dec. 1. The fifth passenger was Amber's fiance, Jonathan North.

PROVIDED BY SMITH FAMILY

Dale Smith

Amber Smith and Norton are supposed to be married on Jan. 4, and a friend of Norton's sent NBC Bay Area their engagement photos that he took in October in a wheat field and on the sand dunes.

Barry Chalmers, father of Sheree Chalmers Smith of Glasgow, provided this photo to The Courier on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Sheree and her husband, Daniel Smith, are among five people missing since the plane they occupied was lost Dec. 1 near Cascade, Idaho. Sheree and Daniel are pictured on their wedding day.

 

Jonathan Norton and Amber Smith were planning to be married Jan. 4. The couple were on the Beech B36TC Bonanza,  (N36ML) that disappeared near Yellow Pine, Idaho, Dec. 1, 2013. (Family Photo)

 

Barry Chalmers, father of Sheree Chalmers Smith of Glasgow, provided the following to The Courier on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Sheree and her husband, Daniel Smith, are among five people missing since the plane they occupied was lost Dec. 1 near Cascade, Idaho. Sheree and Daniel are pictured on their wedding day. 

 

  Search crews for the Smith plane go out with help from a helicopter and snowmobiles at Stibnite Mine near Cascade, Idaho.

A mine worker who was in the backcountry says he heard the plane drop. 

Image courtesy of Johnson Creek Airport WebCam

Amber Smith and  her fiancé, Jonathan Norton

 

BYU student Jonathon Norton and his fiancee Amber Smith are among those missing.

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

Credit: Idaho Transportation Department

 

 Credit: NBC 

Credit: NBC 

 Credit: NBC

Johnson Creek Airstrip -- Monday morning.

 

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - When Dellon Smith spotted the wreckage of his older brother's airplane on the side of a central Idaho mountain, he started running.

"It's hard to sprint in snowshoes, but we did," Smith said Saturday, a day after finding the snow-covered aircraft on a steep slope at about 7,500 feet, bringing an end to a six-week search. "I just wanted to run as fast as I could, and I knew it was a very sacred place to me."

After covering the 200 feet to the aircraft, he asked the rest of the 12-member search team to give him a few minutes alone at the site where a light snow was falling.

"You're just overwhelmed," he said. "You're just so happy to have found it, yet you're so sad because you found it. I just enjoyed the peace of being there, and finally getting answers for our whole family."

Bad weather Saturday morning turned back a recovery team attempting to reach the wreckage of the small aircraft that went down in early December, killing 51-year-old pilot Dale Smith, a Silicon Valley executive, and four of his family members.

There were no plans to make another attempt Sunday, but a meeting will be held Monday to consider options for reaching the remote crash site and removing the five bodies, Valley County Sheriff Patti Bolen said.

She said snowmobiles will be needed to reach the area, and various routes in the rugged terrain are being considered. She didn't rule out the use of a helicopter.

The aircraft had been carrying Dale Smith, a software executive from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith with her fiance, Jonathan Norton, officials said.

The plane was flying from eastern Oregon, where the family had been spending the Thanksgiving holiday, to Montana, where Daniel and Sheree Smith live, when it disappeared Dec. 1 in the mountains 150 miles northeast of Boise.

Dellon Smith, 38, a cargo pilot based in Anchorage, Alaska, and one of three brothers, found the crash site at about 2 p.m. Friday. A large, tracked vehicle carried the search team into the backcountry, where they spread out. He said he tried to take in the scene to determine how the crash might have happened, adding it appeared to have been a violent impact.

"It was very sudden," he said. "Since they were in the clouds, they probably didn't know what hit them. Probably a couple seconds and it was over. There was no pain and suffering for our family members, and for that we're very grateful."

Officials suspended the official search for the aircraft in mid-December, but an intensive hunt by family, friends and a large online community scouring satellite and other photos helped locate the badly damaged aircraft Friday. At one point, hundreds of online volunteers were pitching in.

"Every single one of them made a difference," Dellon Smith said.

On Friday, he spoke with Dale Smith's wife, Janis, and told her he found the wreckage.

"It's a real sense of closure to know exactly what happened and to know that they didn't suffer at all," she told The Associated Press late Friday.

Dellon Smith said the search team dug away some of the snow to make sure it was his brother's aircraft, and he recognized the color from having flown in it.

He said the team looked for bodies but determined that a professional crew would need to clear the snow to find them.

The team focused on the site after a pilot thought he spotted reflecting metal and the online searchers began studying landscape photos of that area, Janis Smith said.

Dale Smith had reported engine trouble and radioed for coordinates to possible landing sites, including a grass-covered backcountry landing strip. Shortly after, controllers lost radio and radar contact.

Janis Smith said it appeared the plane crashed moments after the last communication. She said the plane had caught fire. Dellon Smith said he thinks his brother was trying to make it to an airport in McCall.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Smith, an executive and co-founder of San Jose-based SerialTek, obtained his pilot's license in 2005.

"My brother was a very good pilot and a very good man and a great leader of his family," Dellon Smith said.
Weather stops Idaho plane crash recovery; 5 dead  

 BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Bad weather Saturday morning turned back a recovery team attempting to reach the wreckage of a small airplane that went down in the central Idaho mountains in early December, killing a Silicon Valley executive and four of his family members.

There were no plans to make another attempt Sunday, but a meeting will be held Monday to consider options for reaching the remote crash site and removing the five bodies, Valley County Sheriff Patti Bolen said.

"We're confident they're all right there," she said, but declined to comment if positive identifications had been made at the site. She also declined to release a more precise location of the crash.

Bolen said the site has about 3 feet of snow and was likely receiving more on Saturday. She said snowmobiles will be needed to reach the area, and various routes in the rugged terrain are being considered. She didn't rule out the use of a helicopter.

The aircraft had been carrying 51-year-old pilot Dale Smith, a software executive from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith with her fiance, Jonathan Norton, officials said.

The plane was flying from eastern Oregon, where the family had been spending the Thanksgiving holiday, to Montana, where Daniel and Sheree Smith live, when it disappeared Dec. 1 in the mountains 150 miles northeast of Boise.

Officials suspended the official search for the aircraft in mid-December, but an intensive hunt by family and friends located the badly damaged aircraft Friday.

"We're very pleased that it has been located," Bolen said. "We were thinking that with the weather, we probably wouldn't find it until spring. There was a lot of effort put in by the family and friends who decided that they were going to go out there and find it, or at least make a good attempt."

Dale Smith's wife, Janis, said her husband's brother, Dellon Smith of Anchorage, Alaska, was one of the private searchers who located the wreckage. Dellon Smith told her the plane had broken apart and was buried in snow. He told her it was obvious from the crash site that those aboard died quickly, she said.

"It's a real sense of closure to know exactly what happened and to know that they didn't suffer at all," she told The Associated Press late Friday.

The private search for the plane used online analysis of satellite and other images of the terrain. At one point, hundreds of online volunteers were pitching in.

In this case, a pilot thought he spotted reflecting metal and the online searchers began studying landscape photos of that area, Janis Smith said. That led to a ground search.

She wrote on the plane search Facebook page that Dellon Smith and others surveyed the area all of Friday in deep snow before finding the wreckage.

Dale Smith reported engine trouble and asked controllers in Salt Lake City for coordinates to a grass-covered backcountry landing strip. Shortly after, controllers lost radio and radar contact.

Janis Smith said it appears the plane crashed moments after the last communication. She said the plane had caught fire.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Smith, an executive and co-founder of San Jose-based SerialTek, obtained his pilot's license in 2005.

Associated Press writers Kathy McCarthy in Seattle and Robert Seavey in Phoenix contributed to this report.
------------

Officials have called off the search for the plane that went missing Dec. 1 in Valley County, Idaho, but families of those on board are continuing with the effort despite fears that Sheree Chalmers Smith of Glasgow, her husband Daniel Smith, and three others lost their lives when the plane crashed.

Also on board were Sheree's father-in-law Dale Smith, sister-in-law Amber Smith, and Amber's fiance Jonathan Norton.

The families have received an outpouring of support and concern from across the country, with many stepping in to help in anyway possible.

The family members have created a website for interested parties. You can visit https://sites.google.com/site/searchfordalesplane/ to hear updated information on the crash. This site also has maps of the areas searched and lots of information gathered over the last few weeks.

A weak signal came through on the first day the plane went down, but it was never found after the first few hours. Several aircraft, agencies and people have been involved in the search of the missing plane that left Baker City, Ore., and was on its way to Butte.

http://www.glasgowcourier.com


BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - Family members of five people aboard a missing plane in Idaho's backcountry are asking the public to help search for the aircraft.

Aboard the six-seat plane were its 51-year-old pilot, Dale Smith, from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith with her fiance, Jonathon Norton.

The plane or the passengers haven't been seen since it lost communication Dec. 1

"As you can imagine, the hole in these family's lives ... (we just want) to bring their loved ones home," the family said.

The family is asking the public to help search for the plane using a satelite imagery. The public is asked to "tag" images such as avalanches, campsites and, of course, airplane wreckage.

http://www.kboi2.com


Smith's family has established a website for parties interested in assisting with the search by providing aerial video or images of the search area. The website can be accessed here.


Wreckage of downed plane carrying software president found in Idaho 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Police say it appears no one survived the crash 
• Authorities searched for more than five weeks
• After the plane went down, it gave off a faint emergency signal
• Bad weather made search efforts more difficult

(CNN) -- After more than five weeks of searching, authorities in Idaho have found the wreckage of a plane that went missing last month. It was carrying the president of a software company and members of his family, when it disappeared from radar on December 1.

No one appears to have survived the crash, said Lt Dan Smith from the Valley County Sheriff's Office said in a statement late Friday. There was no mention of bodies found. Efforts to recover the wreckage are on hold due to severe weather.

Dale Smith had left Baker City, Oregon, with his son, his son's wife, his daughter and her fiance. Smith founded SerialTek, a San Jose, California, company that develops hardware and software data storage tools.

His wife and another daughter had stayed behind.

The Smiths were in Dale Smith's single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza en route to Butte, Montana. As they were flying over central Idaho at an altitude of 9,000 feet, the 51-year-old executive reported engine trouble and asked controllers in Salt Lake City for the coordinates of the Johnson Creek Air Strip.

They never made it.

Days after the plane went down, search and rescue teams had detected a weak signal from an emergency locator transmitter that allowed authorities to narrow the search to the area south of Johnson Creek, near Yellow Pine, where the plane was believed to have gone down.

About 40 search and rescue teams, some using ATVs and snowmobiles, combed that area.

Repeated attempts to fly into the area of the last known contact, about a mile east of the Johnson Creek Air Strip, were unsuccessful because of poor weather.

Story and Comments/Reaction:   http://www.cnn.com






Plane missing in Valley County located, no survivors found 

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - A plane carrying five people that has been missing since December 1 has been found, according to the Valley County Sheriff's Office.

Officials say there doesn't appear to be any survivors.

Aboard the six-seat plane were its 51-year-old pilot, Dale Smith, from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith with her fiance, Jonathon Norton.

The sheriff's office says that due to the weather conditions and an incoming severe storm, the recovery efforts may be delayed.

A family member tells KBOI 2News that the plane was found on top of a ridge about a half mile east of the Johnson Creek Airstrip in Yellow Pine.

The plane was first spotted by someone looking at aerial photos on a web page set up to let the public help search for the plane.

The family member tells us that searchers, including pilot Dale Smith's brother Dellon, then used a snowcat to reach the plane Friday and they found all five victims inside.

Friday night, Dale Smith's wife Janis sent the following message to the search website:

They found the plane! Thank you to all the Tomnod searchers who found images that were right on. Dellon and his crew spent the entire day, from 3am onward trying to find the right location. The snow was very deep and the going was very slow. Less than two hours before they needed to wrap up the search for the foreseeable future, Dellon and Arthur found the plane. I am so grateful that Dellon was the one who found his brother. The plane is in pieces and buried in snow. They have not yet found all the parts. However, we do know my family members on the plane died quickly and painlessly. They did not suffer.

More information will be reported as it becomes available.


NBC Bay Area's George Kiriyama speaks to the wife of San Jose Software CEO Dale Smith after she received the news the plane he was piloting was found wrecked. Authorities said there were no survivors.  

http://www.nbclosangeles.com
CASCADE -- After the state officially called of the search for a plane missing in Valley County since December 1, volunteers are still going out in the rugged mountains to look for the plane and five people on board. 

Arthur Stock, from McCall, grew up in the mountainous terrain, and he's been one of those volunteers helping in the search for the plane and family on board.

Stock found out through news reports that the official search was called off, so he took to the internet white pages and tracked down family members of the five missing. Once he made contact with them, he jumped right into the search last week.

"I just bounced into the group and decided to lend my knowledge of these mountains. I've grown up out here so I thought I could help out and wanted to do something," Stock said.
 
This week, he's heading out again for an overnight trip with some other hikers from Boise.

"Obviously they're missing, and I can't give up yet. So there's still hope," Stock said. "There's a lot of possibilities out here, and we're not going to be able to know what happened until we find them."

Stock and the other volunteers met with the Sheriff's office to explain where they'd be going.

"We have a very strict grid set up as far as where we've searched already," Stock said.

He and other volunteer searchers plan to keep looking until they figure out where the plane and family inside ended up.

"Even when I come back to resupply, I'm going to keep going out. As long as I have the time available and the means to do it, I'm going to be hiking these mountains,"  Stock said.

Story, Video and Photo Gallery:  http://www.ktvb.com

 
Sheree and Daniel's family would very much like to thank everyone for their love, support and prayers. It has really gotten us through this.

As you know, Sheree and Daniel Smith were in a plane crash with three other family members: Dale Smith (Daniel's father and the pilot), Amber (Daniel's sister) and her fiancé Jonathon Norton. It occurred Dec. 1, about 1 p.m., north of Cascade, Idaho, as the plane was flying east over the mountains. The plane encountered freezing mist, which coated the wings, covered the windshield and stopped the engine of the plane. Dale, the pilot, radioed for directions to the closest airstrip, which was Johnson Creek. Approach to this airstrip is difficult, though, and can only be made from the north or south. The plane had GPS with terrain display, but with the ice and failing engine could only make broad turns.

About 30 minutes after the plane was lost on radar, the FAA started looking at the information and started a search for the plane. Conditions were cloudy at the time and people on the ground could not see anything in the air, but the plane was heard over the Johnson Creek airstrip (close to its last radar location) and also over Stibnite mine about 7 miles to the East.

Radar cannot see planes in the area once they drop below about 10,000 feet, and the plane had to descend because of the ice. We listened to the Stibnite workers in detail, in order to get a better idea of the flight path. They described the plane as very close to the mine, we think within 1 or 2 miles, and sounding like it was banking hard, heading south at the time. Mountains in the area range from 5,000 feet to about 9,500 feet.

We, Jared and Barry Chalmers, joined the search as well. At that time, we had a helicopter, snow mobiles and tracked ATVs to help us. Conditions were very hard in the area. Snow depth was up to 5 feet deep and most of the slopes have a 30 degree or steeper incline. Drifting snow even stopped our snowmobiles, and conditions became dangerous for us.

The search was the largest in Cascade County coordinated by the sheriff's department and the Idaho Division of Aeronautics. We received help from the Air National Guard, Idaho Search and Rescue, neighboring counties, U.S. Air Force, local pilots, snowmobile clubs and members, ATV dealers, and many volunteers. We also had help from the neighboring Stibnite Mine (owned by Midas Gold) and its employees, from D&G Sports & Western here in Glasgow, Prairie Aviation, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the National Geospatial Agency and many others.

We now surmise that the plane was able to continue flying for a few minutes after it was lost from radar. Dale was an excellent pilot and had dealt with freezing conditions before. We think he was able to restart his engine for a time as it flew over Stibnite. We listened to other aircraft in flight as we searched, and we know that they cannot be heard for more than a mile or two or if they are behind a mountain. But how far the plane continued, we do not know. So our search area covers many square miles.

We also know from other plane crashes in the area that it is extremely unlikely that those in the plane survived the crash. Also temperatures were 10 or more degrees below zero in the mountains since then. We are sure Sheree, Daniel and the others have passed on. Nevertheless, the search for the plane continues. Search and rescue authorities and the FAA continue to investigate the data, and we have enlisted the help of local pilots familiar with the area and who fly into the local airstrips regularly. The ground search will have more chance of success in the summer, when the snow melts. It is likely that we will not hear anything until then.

Sheree and Daniel's family would especially like to thank all those who helped, prayed and remembered us at this time. We want to thank all those who have been such good friends to them here in Glasgow and around the world.

Thank you.

Story and Photo:   http://www.glasgowcourier.com
 
The family members have created a website for interested parties. You can visit https://sites.google.com/site/searchfordalesplane/ to hear updated information on the crash. This site also has maps of the areas searched and lots of information gathered over the last few weeks.



BOISE -- The family of missing Silicon Valley executive Dale Smith will continue searching for the plane he was piloting that disappeared into the Idaho Wilderness over a month ago.

The search is set to resume on Monday, January 7 with the help of expert pilots and ground searchers. Social media and word-of-mouth communication is largely responsible for spreading the word.

Smith's family is also regularly updating a blog regarding the search.

Five people were aboard the Beech Bonanaza when it went missing on Sunday, December 1, near the Johnson Creek Airstrip south of Yellow Pine. Those aboard include pilot Dale Smith, his father Steve Smith, son Daniel Smith, daughter Amber Smith, daughter-in-law Sheree Smith, along with Amber Smith's fiancee Jonathon Norton.

SEARCH IS RENEWED
 
Dellon Smith, the brother of Dale Smith, is organizing the upcoming, 4-day, aerial search from January 7th to the 10th. He plans to base out of the McCall Airport.

"It's mostly going to be an air-based search," Dellon Smith told KTVB. "We are going to have some ground crews helping out."

Smith is a commercial cargo pilot in Alaska, and has a work schedule that allows him to dedicate time searching for his brother. While he admits the likelihood of finding survivors is low, Smith says giving up isn't an option.

"You've got to find closure," he told KTVB.

Smith said rescuers plan to use high-definition photos, satellite imagery, and other cues to search promising new spots for wreckage of the plane.

"The idea is to take those and to look at some of the different scenarios, routes of flight," Smith said. "When you find images that correspond with those scenarios, you want to check them out."

Dellon Smith said his brother likely fell victim to bad weather that came on very quickly the day the plane disappeared in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. He says Dale Smith was an experienced pilot who had flown in the area several times, but hadn't yet landed at the Johnson Creek Airstrip -- known as one of the most challenging in Idaho.

"He's done it several times, and he was always very interested in the Johnson Creek Airport, and he's wanted to fly there for a lot of years," Dellon Smith told KTVB.

A GROUND SEARCH IN ROUGH TERRAIN

Smith says he'd like to find 20 expert volunteers capable of safely navigating on top of the steep alpine ridges that surround the airport.

"What's going to be really important for this search coming up is to get those helicopters in there," Dellon said, adding that helicopters could drop the searchers on ridges to investigate potential crash sites.

Smith hopes to have four helicopters and four airplanes committed to the search next week.

"We believe we have two helicopters for now, but would like an additional two helicopters," Smith told KTVB.

He repeatedly told KTVB that safety will be of utmost importance, and encourages only highly- qualified folks to contact him and volunteer their services.

"We're talking experts in backcountry Idaho," Smith said.

Limited volunteer housing and a warming area is available at the airstrip. To contact Dellon Smith, call 907-360-7854.

http://www.ktvb.com


Dale Smith has served as SerialTek's President and Chief Technologist since the company was founded in 2007.

http://www.serialtek.com


SAN JOSE -- The Sunday morning before the plane disappeared, there was just happiness and hope for the close and vibrant Smith family, who had spent Thanksgiving weekend together in Baker City, Ore. They gathered in a church foyer, formed a circle and embraced in a big group hug. 

 Sharing good wishes, the extended family of 12 promised to meet up again Jan. 4, the wedding day of the youngest Smith daughter, Amber.

"It was the sweetest goodbye a family could have," mother Janis Smith said Monday.

After joining the search for two weeks in Idaho backcountry for her husband's single-engine Beech Bonanza and half of her family, Smith has finally come home to San Jose.

Officials shut down their own search efforts last week, with little hope left that family patriarch Dale Smith and four family members could have survived in the subfreezing temperatures even if they survived a crash.

Janis Smith has put up a Christmas tree, a nativity scene and a wreath on the door. She's trying to keep up a semblance of family tradition for her two youngest sons, Nathan, 12, and Craig, 17. Men from the family's church, the Blossom Valley ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offered to string up the lights on the house.

With her boys performing in school Christmas concerts, life is hectic, which helps.

"It's been busy, chaotic and filled with love," she said. "I haven't had any quiet moments. I feel like just staying in this state of denial. My family is still missing. They truly are just missing."

An avid pilot, Smith was on his way Dec. 1 from the holiday weekend in Oregon to drop off his son, Daniel, 26, and his wife, Sheree, at their home in Butte, Mont. Also along for the ride were Amber, 20, and her fiance, Jonathan Norton, who planned to drive from there back to school at BYU, Idaho to complete their senior year.

Dale Smith radioed that he was having engine trouble. His plane was icing and he wanted directions to land at the Johnson Creek airport, a grass landing strip bordered by 60-foot trees and popular with campers in the warmer months.

Janis Smith's decision to leave Idaho's rugged wilderness last Thursday was excruciating -- especially because the search began with optimism.

At first they seemed to have everything on their side: The weather was frigid, but two storms that could have buried the plane in snow didn't materialize. The family believed they could endure the wilderness if it came to that.

Smith, a Silicon Valley tech executive, is often called "MacGyver" after the 1980s TV show because of his resourcefulness. The two young men on the plane are Eagle Scouts. Joining the search were Smith's brother, Dellon, a professional Alaska bush pilot, and Sheree's father, Barry Chalmers, a mapping expert.

With scores of official searchers and volunteers, including snowmobile clubs from McCall, Idaho, San Jose church members in snowshoes and 3,600 people logging onto a satellite mapping website called TomNod to help scan potential crash sites, the Smith family were hopeful. But the terrain is treacherous by land and tricky to read by satellite imagery. The forests are dense. Trees cast long shadows. "We still hope they're alive," said Dale Smith's mother, Fran Smith Phillips, who is staying with her daughter-in-law and grandsons at the family home in South San Jose's Santa Teresa neighborhood. "To face the reality that a massive search effort had come up empty is extremely, extremely difficult."

She was so proud of her son, who not only founded and sold data storage company Data Transit and is CEO of SerialTek in San Jose, but also volunteered to fly dentists to Baja and medical patients to hospitals with "Angel Flights." He and his wife are leaders in their Mormon church, and he has volunteered at the church's Boy Scout camp every year.

Before Janis Smith came home, she conferred at length with the Valley County sheriff leading the search and her brother-in-law, the Alaska bush pilot, who delivered a painful prognosis: "We've covered everything and I don't know where else to look."

With advice from the two men who "really know and really care," she decided it was "time for me to come home to be with my boys here."

"Maybe there's something you're not supposed to know at this time," she tells herself. Her faith is helping give her perspective and strength. "People say in the spring, it will be easier."

Relatives of the Smith family, including six of Janis Smith's siblings from across the county, have returned to their homes. A private search continues, however, with Dellon Smith and Jonathan Norton's uncle helping coordinate volunteers. The TomNod website -- https://sites.google.com/site/searchfordalesplane/ -- is open for people to study the satellite images of the terrain.

The disappearance came after a difficult year for the Smith family. Janis Smith spent much of the year in Provo, Utah, tending to her oldest daughter, Crystal Christensen, 23, who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. She underwent her last chemotherapy treatment two weeks before Thanksgiving and the family was anxious to celebrate in Oregon, where they rented a big house on five acres near Dale Smith's father and his wife.

They spent the weekend making a go-cart and speeding down the mile-long dirt road, playing pingpong and talking about Amber's wedding. They posed for a family portrait.

"I feel like we have had more fun and life experiences in our 28 years than most people have in a lifetime," Janis said. "In my mind, I'm going to keep them as missing until we find evidence. I could never forgive myself if I gave up on them and they came walking out of the forest."

Story, Videos, Photos and Comments/Reaction:   http://www.mercurynews.com

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The official state and local search for a missing plane and its five passengers may have been called off for now, but relatives of those missing in the central Idaho backcountry aren't giving up their own search.

Last week, Idaho officials suspended their ground and air search for a small plane that was flying from eastern Oregon to Montana on Dec. 1 when it disappeared somewhere in the mountains 150 miles northeast of Boise.

On Monday, relatives of those aboard the plane announced they will continue with their own privately coordinated and funded search.

"In an effort to ensure that the search continues, the families of the missing parties have decided to continue," said Brad Norton, uncle of Jonathan Norton, one of the five people believed on the plane.

Also aboard the six-seat plane were its 51-year-old pilot, Dale Smith, a software executive from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith, who is described as Norton's fiancee.

For two weeks, state and local crews focused on an area near Yellow Pine and a backcountry landing strip.

Snow, poor visibility and sub-zero temperatures hampered the search.

The family has set up a website for the public to track developments in their search. The website includes recent updates, information for pilots flying over the area and contact information for volunteers heading up the air and ground searches.

State transportation officials say they are prepared to resume the search if credible information about location is obtained.

http://www.kboi2.com

 SAN JOSE -- When San Jose pilot Dale Smith's plane fell off the radar in the Idaho backcountry almost two weeks ago, there were a couple of things his close-knit family and church community knew about him. 
 
One was that if anyone could find a way to make sure the four family members on board with him were safe, it was him. Another was that he's the kind of man to drop everything to go help someone who might be in that same dire situation.

That, said Ruben Cardona, helped drive him and six members of his South San Jose church to brave the subzero temperatures of central Idaho for the past week in hopes of finding their missing friend and his family.

"Dale would have been the first guy out there looking for us, if it would have been any of us," said Cardona, 33, a Citrix software engineer. "We had the means and the experience to go out there and help and do what we can, so we did."

But by Friday, Cardona and fellow church members were back home in San Jose after five days of searching the rugged, mountainous backcountry. Cardona said they felt they had done all that they could as a search team.

Dale Smith, who cofounded San Jose data storage company Serialtek with partner Rand Kriech, was onboard the plane with his son and daughter-in-law Daniel and Sheree Smith, and his daughter Amber Smith and her fiance, Jonathan Norton.

The extended Smith family spent Thanksgiving in Baker City, Ore. On Dec. 1, they were en route in a single-engine Beech Bonanza to Butte, Mont., to drop off Daniel and Sheree Smith when Dale Smith reported engine trouble and dropped out of contact.

On Dec. 6, after five days of combing the area with aircraft and ground searches, police agencies in Idaho all but called off their extensive search efforts.

But Smith's family, including his wife, Janis, and oldest daughter Crystal Christensen, and friends stayed in the western Idaho region as private teams kept looking. Ground and air searches continued with the help of private pilots, friends and volunteers, including the group of men who were with Cardona from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Blossom Valley.

"We are trying to remain hopeful," Tim Bird, a close family friend of the Smiths, said Friday in San Jose. "Some people are skeptical with the amount of effort with the search, but if you don't act on the possibility of a miracle, then you can't have one. Almost everybody involved realized it was a long shot, but their effort was around exhausting every possible chance of recovery."

Most, if not all, of the Smith family and friends have now left Idaho, Bird said. He added that volunteers are still coordinating searches and private pilots are willing to do new flyovers as information develops.

The search during the past week has been aided by dozens of people who couldn't go to Idaho, so instead spent hours scouring satellite images of the area through a crowdsourcing website called Tomnod.

There are 1,672 members of a Facebook page that use current digital images of the Idaho terrain to find any signs of the plane.

Cardona said that search teams in Idaho spent their time both on the ground and joining local pilots in providing "an extra set of eyes" while searching from the air.

He said the others in his church search group are all outdoorsmen with experience snowshoeing in the wilderness. That helped as they traversed extremely rugged country, coming across steep grades and snow-covered meadows. They usually went out with snow shoes, ski poles and a backpack with food, water and survival gear.

"It was what we expected," Cardona said of the conditions. "It's very harsh terrain, and the hardest time of the year."

Jed Dyreng, bishop of the Blossom Valley ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been friends with Smith for more than 18 years. He said the group that went to Idaho all left their jobs and families and paid their own way to go. One of the men spent $900 on outdoor equipment to survive the frigid conditions.

Another extended family member, San Jose native David Christensen, who lives in Utah, drove with his wife to Idaho to provide moral support. His son Michael, who is married to Dale Smith's oldest daughter, Crystal, left Brigham Young University just weeks before he was scheduled to graduate because he thought his place was helping the ground search.

"This has been a difficult situation for all of us," Christensen said earlier this week. "But as a parent, it has been amazing watching our son. We are so proud of him. He's trying to finish out his school in two weeks and yet he knows this is more important. He has been so inspiring to us."

Those who couldn't join the search found solace in studying satellite images for any signs of the plane.

"To be able to spend my evenings scouring through these images, hoping to see a glimpse of anything, to give information to people on the ground out there, it means everything to me," said Trevor Thompson, another member of Smith's church. "We all feel helpless that we can't go and help. This is a way we can pitch in and spend some hours searching."

Source:   http://www.timesheraldonline.com


Air and ground crews have suspended their search for a plane that went missing in Idaho's backcountry on Dec. 1 with five people aboard, including a Silicon Valley executive.

Mel Coulter of the Idaho Transportation Department said aircraft had been flying as late as Wednesday over rugged mountains where the single-engine Beechcraft disappeared near Yellow Pine, about 150 miles north of Boise.

But Coulter said worsening conditions and safety concerns nearly two weeks after the plane vanished prompted crews to "reluctantly" halt operations Thursday.

Aboard the six-seat plane were its 51-year-old pilot, Dale Smith, a software executive from San Jose, Calif.; his son, Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith with her fiance, Jonathon Norton.

They were en route from Baker City, Ore., where the family had been spending the Thanksgiving holiday, to Butte, Mont., where Daniel and Sheree Smith live.

That's when Dale Smith reported engine trouble and sought information about the location of a backcountry landing strip where he hoped to put the plane down safely.

"We reluctantly suspended the search because of worsening conditions and concern for the safety of our search teams," said Mike Pape, administrator of the Idaho Transportation Department's Division of Aeronautics, in a statement. "We are prepared to resume the search if there is specific, credible information about the plane's location. Our hearts go out to family members and friends as they await word about their love ones."

Family and friends of those aboard the plane who have also been searching announced this week their efforts were winding down, too, though they predicted that efforts would eventually resume as conditions become more conducive.

"We will, eventually, find them," Alan Dayton, of Salt Lake City, told The Salt Lake Tribune ( http://bit.ly/1bF3zSE ). "Until then, we will always have our memories of them. Nothing changes that."

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Smith, an executive and co-founder of San Jose-based SerialTek, obtained his pilot's license in 2005.

http://abcnews.go.com


Family members say search efforts have mostly ended for a small private airplane that went missing over the mountains in central Idaho with five people aboard.

Alan Dayton of Salt Lake City is the uncle of Jonathon Norton, one of the passengers. Dayton told The Salt Lake Tribune that family members feel they've done everything they can.

Nadine Bird of San Jose, Calif. is a friend of the pilot's family and says a few family members were still searching on Tuesday afternoon.

A search by law enforcement ended Friday.

Fifty-one-year-old Dale Smith, a software executive from San Jose, Calif., was flying the plane from eastern Oregon to Butte, Mont., when he reported engine trouble.

Smith's son and his wife, along with Smith's daughter and her fiance, Norton, were on board.


http://www.ktvu.com

For Alan Dayton and other relatives grieving for the five people missing in the Dec. 1 crash of a small airplane, closure may have to wait for spring to melt away the deep snow covering the rugged and remote mountains of central Idaho. 

On Tuesday, nine days out from when the six-seat, single-engine, 1983-model Beech B36TC aircraft disappeared from radar shortly after its pilot radioed Salt Lake City air traffic controllers about engine trouble, most of the missing’s family and friends ended their search.

"We’ve done everything we can think of doing. [We have] decided it is time to pull up stakes and go home," said Dayton of Salt Lake City, whose nephew Jonathon Norton, and his fiancée Amber Smith, were on the plane. "Hopefully, we’ll find them all next summer.

"We will, eventually, find them," Dayton added. "Until then, we will always have our memories of them. Nothing changes that."

However, a small number of the pilot Dale Smith’s family, who also was flying his son Daniel Smith and wife Sheree Smith in the aircraft, remained in Idaho as of Tuesday afternoon, according to a Smith family friend, Nadine Bird of San Jose, Calif.

"The Smith family has not given up," she said, while acknowledging that the official search effort, and that by members of the Norton family, had ceased on the ground.

On behalf of the Smith family — which continued to be unreachable for direct comment — Bird and others friends have set up the Search for Dale’s Plane website as the search largely shifted to a review of satellite images of the wild region.

Bird also told The Salt Lake Tribune that Cascade and Yellow Pine, Idaho, Mormon church members have been helping with meals and accommodations for searchers over the past week and a half.

The official search, involving search and rescue crews and aircraft from multiple county, state and military agencies, had ended last Friday. Authorities then had noted their extensive, albeit unsuccessful efforts, over a week’s time to find any trace of the wreckage of passengers — and the danger that deep and continuing snowfall, sub-zero temperatures and the treacherous terrain posed to personnel.

On Tuesday, Dayton said family and friends who had focused on a 9-square-mile area of deep ravines, ragged ridgelines and thick forests about 100 miles northeast of Boise reluctantly came to the same conclusion.

Dayton said searchers have been gathering daily at dawn or earlier, in the tiny town of Cascade, Idaho, and then driving about 50 miles to the search area near the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

"That’s three hours’ driving, all on mountain roads, and once you are there you still have to have all the right gear. Then you find the ridgeline and start hiking, trying to spot one teeny speck [of wreckage] out of a gigantic area," he said.

The families of the missing were discouraged when the official search effort wrapped up late last week, Dayton acknowledged.

"Now, we have a better perspective on how the local sheriff didn’t seem to be too encouraging," he added. "It’s too rough terrain. The worst thing you can do is have someone who’s helping to search for these people to get in trouble themselves."

The plane was en route from Baker City, Ore., to Butte, Mont., when it went down.

Jonathon Norton grew up in Salt Lake City and was a senior at BYU-Idaho, along with Amber Smith. They had planned to be married on Jan. 4.


http://www.sltrib.com

  
BOISE -- Family members of those on plane missing for more than a week in the central Idaho mountains have some renewed hope to start out another week of searching for their loved ones. 

The single engine Beech Bonanza went off radar on Dec. 1 on its way from BakerCity, Oregon to Butte, Montana with five people on board.

The snowy weekend hampered those search efforts, but the family is still going full force.

A private plane has been hired by the family to search now that it is safe again to take to the skies.

Witnesses have come forward with new details that the family is hanging their hope on.

Brad Norton is the uncle of Jonathon Norton, one of the five passengers on board

"The enormity of the terrain and the potential place where that plane could have gone ... it's just a little overwhelming to be honest," said Brad Norton.

The remote area in Valley County is rough terrain that is rugged and steep, and covered in snow.

While those with sheriff's office scaled back the search last week, family members say they had no other choice but to ramp it up by hiring a private plane to assist in the search.

Also, a mine worker came forward saying he heard a plane overhead that Sunday that appeared to be having engine trouble near the Stibnite mine.

"Of course we as a family are saying, well we didn’t find them there so obviously we think we have to look outside of that area," said Norton.

With the help of satellite images, searchers can now look for anything out of the ordinary and pinpoint a location to move their search in the expansive Idaho backcountry.

"From searching those satellite posts there has been some renewed hope and we are trying to keep hoping for a miracle," said Norton.

Obviously this search is in tough terrain so putting anyone else in harm's way is not what Valley County authorities want to do.  However, if anyone wants to aid in this search, the family says they are welcome.

Story and Video:  http://www.nwcn.com


While a week-long official search had been all but ended, friends and family continued Monday to comb the subfreezing, snowy mountains of central Idaho for any trace of a crashed plane with their five loved ones aboard.  

Alan Dayton of Salt Lake City, whose nephew Jonathon Norton, and his fiancé Amber Smith, were passengers on the single-engine aircraft when it went down the afternoon of Dec. 1, acknowledged that there was little hope they would be found alive.

About 25 searchers — a fraction of the massive air and ground search conducted last week by Valley County, Idaho Army National Guard, U.S. Forest Service personnel and search and rescue crews from neighboring counties and the state — ran into deep snow and poor visibility on Sunday as they slogged into remote ravines and onto rugged slopes roughly 100 miles northeast of Boise.

Dayton also noted that an unidentified "billionaire out of Sun Valley (Idaho)" was lending his private helicopter to the search, an effort now primarily funded by family and donations from friends and others.

On Sunday, Dayton said he and other searchers hiked nearly 5 miles into a search area suggested by an anonymous "ear witness" who has reported hearing the missing plane in the vicinity on Dec. 1.

"[We got] slowed down and went back when the snow got too deep," Dayton said, adding that searchers " needed radios just to find each other from 100 yards" due to poor visibility caused by blowing snow.

"There is just too much forest. It feels like we are looking for a needle in a haystack and unless you miraculously walk on top of the crash site you won’t see it," he admitted.

Late Friday, the Valley County Sheriff’s Office cited poor weather and lack of leads or new information is announcing the official search was being "scaled back" to a "limited number" of personnel on the ground.

"Even though we want to locate this plane, the one thing we cannot do is put people in harm’s way," said Valley County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Smith.

On Monday, however, Idaho Transportation spokesman Reed Hollinshead confirmed that most of the search teams had "packed up and left" the area.

http://www.sltrib.com

 
An "ear witness" is leading the ongoing search for a downed plane and its five occupants in the frozen mountains of central Idaho. 

The missing plane, out of San Jose, Calif., was en route to Montana when it went down Sunday after pilot Dale Smith reported engine trouble. Also aboard were Dale Smith’s son Daniel Smith and his wife, Sheree Smith; and daughter Amber Smith and her fiancé, Jonathon Norton, who grew up in Salt Lake City.

Weekend storms hampered the search, but new information will help guide a renewed effort Sunday morning.

" We now have an ear witness who has come out of the backcountry who heard the plane bank hard and drop," Alan Taylor, Norton’s uncle, wrote in an email. "He has indicated an area on the map where we should search."

The witness added that the conditions that day were "the worst possible for flying: snowy, low visibility and clouds," according to the email. "From the information I have gathered, it appears that the pilot had ice problems, got mechanical problems."

The search begins again at 6 a.m. While Idaho officials continue their search, Taylor and two of his brothers also plan to drive to the area by SUV, snow machines and on snowshoes. They will have a GPS and plan on spending the night in an abandoned lodge.

The family also have "a billionaire out of Sun Valley" who has donated his helicopter to aid the search on Sunday, the email adds.

The region, already rugged, remote and hard to access, has endured below-zero overnight temperatures all week. Families of the missing and rescue personnel alike acknowledge that given the passage of time without a trace of the plane or its passengers, and the harsh conditions on the ground, that the mission has likely become one of recovery.

Up to 100 searchers from multiple county, state and military agencies, have been combing the area on tracked snowcats and snowmobiles, and above the ground in helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

http://www.sltrib.com

Here's a link for satellite imagery http://new.tomnod.com/nod/challenge/idsar2013   It will only bring up the search area and you tag things like wreckage, tents, and hikers. Once you tag something, it will tell you how many others have tagged the same thing. Searchers then use this info to check it out further.


MISSOULA - Family members of the five passengers on board a small aircraft - which is believed to have crashed in the Idaho wilderness - are still holding out hope their loved ones are still alive. 

Search efforts continue in Valley County, Idaho after the plane reported engine trouble near the small town of Yellow Pine last weekend.

A faint emergency locator transmitter signal thought to be picked up turned out to be misleading due to the mountainous terrain, and the teams are continuing to expand their search.

Five people were on board - including a couple from BYU-Idaho, Jonathan Norton, and his fiancée Amber Smith - who planned to wed early next month.

We talked to Norton's uncle on Saturday, and he told us the search is far from over.

"The efforts are still moving forward, you know this isn't dying down. And we as a family are definitely banded together to make sure we are able to find them and bring them home. We're not giving up and nobody is close to thinking this is over from our perspective," Brad Norton said.

The family wants you to know you can assist in the search by helping review satellite imagery online. The purpose is to look at each image and see if there's anything out of place - and then tag the locations.

Search and rescue reviews each tag - and if they feel like it could be a hit they'll send teams to those tagged locations.

http://www.kxlf.com

CASCADE, Idaho -- The Valley County Sheriff's Office is scaling back the search for a missing plane. They have taken their deputies off the search for the time being, and all aircraft being used in the search had to be grounded because of the weather.

It's been a long search for the dozens who have participated. A plane carrying five people took of from Baker City, Oregon and was bound for Butte, Montana when the pilot lost radar contact with air traffic control Sunday afternoon. Searchers have been battling the elements and the rugged terrain.

"From the beginning it was really hard because all we had to go off of was the cell phone ping, the last cell phone ping from one of the cell phones that was on the plane and the radar contact," said Incident Commander Lieutenant Dan Smith, with Valley County Sheriff's Office.

He said it was one of the bigger searches of its kind in Valley County, with as many as 60 people on foot at one time.

"We fought every type of obstacle that is imaginable in the back country," Smith said.

The Valley County Sheriff's Office is scaling back their search until the weather breaks and they get a better idea where the plane might be.

"There's just hundreds of people that were involved in this and gave it everything they had," Smith said. "We're disappointed we didn't find anything."

The families of the people on the plane are asking for help. Brad Norton's nephew Jonathan Norton was on the plane.

"We understand what we're up against. We understand what the odds are and we're really hoping and praying for a miracle," said Norton. "We have so much support out there through social media and other venues and through news broadcasts. This has gone out to thousands, and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands people and they're pouring their prayers and their love and everything for the family and the family members."

They are hoping people will help them search on foot, and hoping for a miracle.

Smith said the families have been very appreciate of everybody in Cascade and Valley County and said they've gotten lots of offers for help and support from the community.

All aircraft that were being used in the search had to be grounded because of weather, but the family is prepared to go out on foot for some additional searching.

http://www.ktvb.com


BOISE,Idaho (KBOI) - Brad Nortons been searching for his five missing family members for the past two days in the mountains near Yellow Pine after the plane went missing Sunday. He says he was deflated when he climbed to the top of one ridge and saw more steep cliffs as far as he could see. 

 "Nothing new, no we haven't found any new indication to where they may be. The search in the perimeter that had been originally established had been searched over very thoroughly and very well by all those who participated," Norton said.

Norton says that after five days of searching it has worn on the family. "It starts pulling at your heart strings and making it a little more difficult to keep it together and keep it composed," Norton said.

Now the family plans on finding a way to hire their own flight crew to keep the search going.  They say it's all they can do with their family still out there. We're starting to get to a point now, were starting  to think of what we need to do as a family to organize our own personal search," Norton said.

http://www.kboi2.com

CASCADE, Idaho – Authorities in Valley County say the search for a missing plane with five people on board has been scaled back today due to poor weather conditions. 

 The pilot, Dale Smith, lost radar contact with air traffic controllers on Sunday afternoon and last reported headed for the Johnson Creek airstrip near Yellow Pine, Idaho.  The plane took off from Baker City, Ore., and was bound for Butte, Mont.

Search crews used four helicopters and five fixed-wing aircraft to comb the area on Thursday, but failed to find any signs of the missing plane or the people on board.

Poor visibility has led to the grounding of search planes and helicopters today.

“Forecasts call for snowfall throughout the weekend and into next week,” said Incident Commander Lt. Dan Smith with the Valley County Sheriff’s Office.  “Even though we want to locate this plane, the one thing we cannot do is put people in harm’s way.”

Officials say a limited number of ground searchers will be working the area today until the weather no longer permits.

All available resources have been used in the search for the single-engine BE Beech Bonanza.

Ground crews including those from Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Valley County Search and Rescue, Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, Idaho Fish and Game, U.S. Forest Service and family members have hiked the ridges and valleys in the vicinity of Johnson Creek airstrip and the surrounding areas.

Earlier in the week, the FAA issued a temporary flight restriction in the search area.  That has now been lifted.

The Valley County Sheriff’s Office is not giving up, but is hopeful new information becomes available.

Officials are urging pilots flying in the area to keep an eye out for any signs of the missing aircraft. The missing plane may be outside of the initial search area, but the vast and remote nature of the Idaho backcountry limits the ability to extend the search any further at this time.

http://www.ktvb.com
 
Mel Cross, a Baker City pilot who grew up in Idaho, has spent many hours flying over the rugged mountains where a single-engine plane that left Baker City Sunday has gone missing en route to Butte, Mont.  

 Cross is familiar with the Johnson Creek Airstrip, which is about 50 miles northeast of Cascade, Idaho, where he was raised.

That’s the unpaved airstrip where 51-year-old Dale Smith had hoped to land when his six-seat BE36 Beech Bonanza airplane began experiencing engine trouble Sunday afternoon.

“That’s rugged country — a lot of huge country,” Cross said.

Cross, 74, has accumulated 2,400 hours in the air over the past 38 years.

And many of those hours have been spent flying between Baker City and the state where he spent his younger years, including trips to Sun Valley, Stanley and Smiley Creek, Idaho. He and his wife, Marlene, 72, also fly to Salem for visits with their grandkids. They average about 100 hours a year in the air, Cross said.

“I’ve been in all those places,” Cross said of the central Idaho region, and he knows the challenges faced by those searching for Smith’s missing plane.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Cross said.

Smith flew out of the Baker City Airport after 11 a.m. Sunday bound for Butte, Mont. His plane lost radar and cell tower contact shortly after 1 p.m. MST, according to the Valley County, Idaho, Sheriff’s Department.

Others on board were Dale Smith’s children, Daniel and Amber; Daniel’s wife, Sheree; and Amber’s fiancé, Jonathan Norton. The engaged couple are students at Brigham Young University-Idaho at Rexburg and are planning to be married Jan. 4. Their wedding announcements arrived in the mail this week, according to The Associated Press (AP).

Those aboard the plane spent Thanksgiving with Dale Smith’s father and stepmother, Steve and Terri Smith, who live near Baker City, said Elizabeth Smithson of Baker City, a family friend.

At one point during the Sunday flight, Dale Smith was seeking coordinates for the Johnson Creek Airstrip, a Valley County Sheriff’s Department press release stated. The search for the missing plane has centered in that area this week.

Cross is puzzled by Smith’s  request for help to find the remote airstrip. He says his Cessna 182 is equipped with a global positioning unit that allows him to search for the 10 nearest airports within a 20-mile radius.

“He should have been able to dial it in himself,” Cross said, wondering what might have prevented Smith from doing that.

Cross’ airplane has four seats and can carry a load of 1,230 pounds, including the fuel.

“He’s got a pretty good size airplane with quite a bit of horsepower,” Cross said of Smith’s Beech Bonanza. Still, Cross added, with five people aboard, “he had plenty of load for what he was trying to accomplish.”

Temperatures this week have dropped below zero in the mountainous region of Central Idaho.

“I pray for them,” Cross said. “I hope they had a way to build a fire at least and that if they survived they at least had some heat.”

Mel and Marlene Cross spent a winter night out in the Eagle Caps about 20 years ago when the two became separated while snowmobiling, so Mel knows firsthand about the harsh conditions the family could be facing.

He hopes, as most pilots do, that Smith was carrying survival gear.

Searchers entered their fifth day of looking for the missing plane today. Ground crews rested overnight near the community of Yellow Pine, Idaho, three miles north of the airstrip where Smith had hoped to land, and about 150 miles northeast of Boise.

Heavy snow, strong winds and low visibility hampered Monday’s aerial search, but on Tuesday, a faint emergency locator transmitter signal was picked up one mile south of the airstrip. The signal could not be verified by other aircraft searching the same area Wednesday, however, the sheriff’s department reported.

There are five airplanes helping with the search today, including two from the Civil Air Patrol and three from the Idaho Department of Transportation.

The Civil Air Patrol is using forward looking infrared radar brought in from Wyoming, the sheriff’s office said. The equipment detects ground temperatures and can distinguish such things as sunlight reflecting off metal.

Ground searchers include a team from the Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Valley County Search and Rescue, Idaho Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, family members and the Idaho Transportation Department.

“Today we have clear weather and are continuing the search using every available asset,” said Incident Commander Lt. Dan Smith of the Valley County Sheriff’s Office.  “The terrain of the search area continues to be a challenge, and our thoughts are with the family of those believed to be on the plane.”

Because of the remote mountainous terrain,and the concern for the safety of the searchers, volunteers are asked not to join the effort, the sheriff’s department lieutenant said.

The pilot is an executive and co-founder of the San Jose-based data storage company SerialTek, according to an AP report.

Smith has been a pilot for eight years and is described as “experienced” by his friends.

Rand Kriech, who co-founded SerialTek with Smith in 2007, told AP that Smith had intended to drop his son and daughter-in-law off at Butte, Mont., and then to head south to deliver his daughter and her fiancé to Rexburg.

http://www.bakercityherald.com


(POCATELLO, ID) – The family of one of the men missing after a plane went down in the central Idaho backcountry is asking for help from the public. Kim Dayton of Pocatello says her nephew, Jonathan Norton, was on a flight with four other people when it disappeared Sunday near the Frank Church Wilderness Area. Eight aircraft and 90 hikers are expected to comb the Yellow Pine area today in search of the plane, and authorities are still looking for more volunteers. 

Those with snowmobiles or horses wanting to assist in recovery efforts can contact the Valley County Sheriff’s Office at 208-382-5160. 

http://www.eastidahonews.com

 CASCADE, Idaho -- Authorities say four new aircraft will join the search this afternoon for an airplane that has been missing in the central Idaho Wilderness since Sunday. 

 The plane went down in remote area of Valley County near the Johnson Creek airstrip.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deployed one helicopter from their base in Spokane, Wash.  Two Idaho Army National Guard Apache helicopters with infrared capabilities are expected to join the search around 2 p.m.  One additional helicopter, a Bell 407, coordinated through the Idaho Transportation Department’s Division of Aeronautics is en route from the Sun Valley area.

Official say the helicopter will allow searchers to survey the area at a lower altitude and at slower speeds than airplanes.

“We are extremely thankful for the support we have been getting from multiple organizations,” said Incident Commander Lt. Dan Smith with the Valley County Sheriff’s Office.

The plane, a BE-36 Beech Bonanza, took off from Baker City, Oregon at 11 a.m. PST Sunday and went off radar around 1 p.m. MST near Yellow Pine, about 50 miles northwest of Cascade. It was bound for Butte, Mont.

Family members say the five people on the missing plane include the pilot, Dale Smith of San Jose, Calif., along with son Daniel Smith and his wife Sheree Smith, and daughter Amber Smith, with her fiancé Jonathon Norton.

This marks the fifth day of the search.

Ground search crews rested overnight near the remote community of Yellow Pine.

Today, ground teams are focusing their search on drainages east of the Johnson Creek airstrip.

As for aerial crews, they have been assigned to cover specific areas and will used a grid pattern in their attempts to locate the missing plane.

Five airplanes are involved in today's search including two from the Civil Air Patrol and three from the Idaho Transportation Department.

Ground teams include a team from the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue unit, and personnel from the Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Valley County Search and Rescue, Idaho Fish and Game, U.S. Forest Service, family members and the Idaho Transportation Department.

On Tuesday, an emergency beacon was detected about a mile south of the airstrip.  However, a weak signal made it hard to pinpoint the exact location of the plane.

On Wednesday, there were about 50 to 60 people involved in the search effort.

Incident commanders say volunteers are not need in the search due to the extreme, remote and mountainous terrain and the concern for safety of those involved in the search.

http://www.ktvb.com


VALLEY COUNTY, Idaho --  Authorities in Valley County have resumed the search for a missing airplane with five aboard near the Johnson Creek Airstrip, south of Yellow Pine, Idaho.

Just yesterday, an emergency beacon was detected about a mile south of the airstrip. Searchers are expected to focus on that area, along with a five-mile radius around the airstrip.

Three additional fixed-wing aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol are expected to bolster Wednesday's search efforts, according to spokesperson Mallory Eils with the State Bureau of Homeland Security.

A group of volunteers with the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue group is also expected to assist.

In total, 50 to 60 rescuers are said to be searching the area, including five airplanes and two helicopters. Cold, clear weather is expected to make conditions tough for those on the ground, but better for aircraft.

"As far as clear skies moving in, it looks very favorable for the aircraft," Eils said.

Valley County officials caution members of the public from helping in the search.

“With the additional resources, rugged terrain, and difficult weather conditions, we are encouraging citizens not to attempt to volunteer to help with the search,” said Incident Commander Lt Dan Smith with the Valley County Sheriff’s Office. “Untrained individuals create safety concerns and detract resources from the search effort.”

Weather conditions improved Tuesday, and the search for the BE-36 Beech Bonanza resumed in the air and on the ground.

Officials were able to narrow down the search area after an emergency locator transmitter signal was detected about a mile south of the airstrip Tuesday morning. However, that signal was very weak and searchers could not find the source.

Authorities say five people were on board the BE-36 Beech Bonanza when it was reported missing. The aircraft is an early 1980s model, white and maroon, and has six seats.

The plane took off from Baker City, Oregon at 11 a.m. PST Sunday and went off radar around 1 p.m. MST near Yellow Pine, about 50 miles northwest of Cascade. It was bound for Butte, Mont.

DEPUTY SAYS PILOT WAS EXPERIENCED

Family members say the five people on the missing plane include the pilot, Dale Smith, along with son Daniel Smith and his wife Sheree Smith, and daughter Amber Smith of San Jose, Calif., with her fiancé Jonathon Norton.

Valley County Sheriff's Deputy Lt. Dan Smith says Dale Smith is an experienced pilot.

"We have significant resources dedicated to this search effort," said Lt. Smith.  "We are hopeful that the break in the weather will allow us to locate the missing aircraft."

Two helicopters from the Idaho National Guard and two fixed wing aircraft from the Civil Air Patrol were able to get up in the skies Tuesday because of more favorable weather.

Searchers are hopeful that those favorable weather conditions will allow for continued air and ground searches in the coming days. Those efforts continue to be complicated due to communication challenges faced by the searchers in the remote, mountainous terrain.

SEARCH EFFORTS DETAILED

Civil Air Patrol planes have been sticking to a five mile radius of Johnson Creek.

A flight restriction has been issued for all airplanes in the area from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Aircraft, other than those directly involved in the search, are restricted from flying below 10,500 feet above sea level, which is about 1,000 feet above mountain peaks in the area. This will keep the search-area canopy clear to search.

Snow has been falling in the central Idaho mountains and overnight temperatures got down to around zero degrees.