January 09, 2021: Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances in Dant, Oregon
SX Transport LLC
Date: 09-JAN-21
Time: 21:38:00Z
Regis#: N3RB
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: 560
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 2
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: DESTROYED
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: EN ROUTE (ENR)
Operation: 91
City: DANT
State: OREGON
Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation may contact them by email eyewitnessreport@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov.
Richard Wayne Boehlke
WARM SPRINGS, Oregon (KTVZ) – The remains of at least two people and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered from the scene of a Cessna Citation 560 crash Saturday afternoon in the Mutton Mountains on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, authorities said Monday.
The recorder will be shipped to the National Transportation Safety Board recorders lab in Washington, District of Columbia, said Christopher O'Neil, the NTSB's chief of media relations.
Wreckage recovery continues, O'Neil said, and it will be transported to a secure location for further information.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Marcia Adams said local authorities reported reaching the wreckage of the Cessna Citation 560 shortly after noon Sunday near the community of Pine Grove, and that preliminary reports indicate the plane, capable of carrying 11 passengers, had two people aboard.
Warm Springs police Lt. Ron Gregory said Monday that Saturday's initial search effort stalled due to downed trees over major access points. The effort resumed Sunday morning, and crews spent about eight hours locating the site and searching the wreckage.
The release of names is pending, Gregory said, confirming identification and notifying their families.
The pilot had filed an instrument flight rules flight plan from Troutdale Airport, east of Portland, to Boise, O'Neil said Sunday.
O'Neil told NewsChannel 21 investigators are still awaiting complete weather reports, but Troutdale was under visual flight rules at the time of his departure, with 10 miles visibility and a 12,000-foot ceiling.
"There did not appear to be any significant weather along the accident route of flight," he added.
FAA air traffic controllers lost communication with the plane around 1:30 p.m. Saturday near Pine Grove, which is located just north of the reservation boundaries, FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.
The FAA issued an alert notice shortly before 2 p.m. to public safety agencies, pilots and airports, alerting them of the missing aircraft, as search and rescue efforts got underway, Salac said.
Warm Springs Police Chief Bill Elliott said the Warm Springs Dispatch Center received a report around 2:30 p.m. from Seattle Air Traffic Control of the possible plane crash in the area of the Mutton Mountains, located in the northeast corner of the reservation.
The crash site was confirmed by a U.S. Air Force military flyover, as well as an Oregon State Police aircraft, Elliott said.
Warm Springs police responded, with the assistance of Warm Springs Fire and Safety, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office and OSP. Wasco County SAR also was en route to assist, Elliott said Saturday evening.
The plane crash site was near the S-390 road, accessible from the S-300/Highway 3 from Schoolie Flat and Simnasho.
“Road conditions make access difficult, due to snow and mud,” Elliott said in an initial news release, adding that “officers are utilizing ATVs to reach the crash site.”
Gregory said, "We had a real difficult time getting there (Saturday) night. "We had a lot of downed trees. The (darkness) played a factor. Snow wasn't bad, but we had a lot of mud."
The NTSB spokesman said Sunday a preliminary report is usually released 10 to 15 days after a crash.
WARM SPRINGS, Oregon — A Cessna Citation 560 crashed in mountainous terrain in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of central Oregon, killing the pilot and a single passenger on board, authorities said Sunday.
Warm Springs tribal police were notified by air traffic controllers in Seattle at about 2:30 p.m. PST Saturday of a possible crash in the Mutton Mountains on the reservation, roughly 20 miles north of Warm Springs, said tribal police Lt. Ron Gregory.
Flyovers by the Oregon State Police and the U.S. Air Force confirmed a crash late Saturday. But snow, mud, downed trees and rugged terrain prevented rescuers from Warm Springs police, Wasco County and state police from reaching the remote site until about noon Sunday, Gregory said.
Rescuers confirmed that the pilot and a lone passenger on the Cessna Citation 560 were killed, Gregory said.
The victims' identities weren't immediately released, and details on the flight's itinerary and the owner of the aircraft weren't immediately available.
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the crash, said NTSB spokesman Chris O'Neil.
Two people perished in an airplane crash Saturday on the Warm Springs Reservation.
According to a news release from Warm Springs Police Chief Bill Elliott, at 2:30 p.m. January 9, the Warm Springs Dispatch Center received a report from Seattle Air Traffic Control of a possible plane crash within the boundaries of the reservation in the area of the Mutton Mountains.
The plane was described as a Cessna Citation 560 capable of transporting up to 11 passengers. The exact number of passengers in the plane had not been confirmed at that time. The crash was confirmed by a United States Air Force military flyover as well as an Oregon State Police aircraft.
The Warm Springs Tribal Police Department coordinated the search efforts once they had the coordinates from an Oregon State Police flyover. Warm Springs Police responded with the assistance of Warm Springs Fire and Safety, Wasco County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police, and Wasco County Search and Rescue.
The crash site was near the S390 Road accessible using the S300/Highway 3 from Schoolie Flat/Simnasho. Elliott said road conditions made access difficult due to snow and mud. Officers utilized ATVs to reach the crash site on Saturday.
Due to the remote location, radio communication was unreliable, and cell phone reception was spotty, said Warm Springs Police Lt. Ron Gregory.
"There were two people on board the plane at the time and unfortunately, both perished in the crash," Gregory said.
He said the first day the search stalled due to downed trees over major access points into the area.
"As the day turned to night, our crews did not have the necessary tools to get through, so they resumed the following morning, spending about eight hours locating the crash site and searching the wreckage," Gregory said.
Crews recovered the remains of at least two individuals. Release of name information is pending, confirming the identification and notification of their families.
Gregory said the plane had departed from Troutdale en route to Boise, Idaho, carrying the pilot and at least one passenger. The crash portion of the investigation will be handled by National Transportation Safety Board.
Cessna Citation 560, N561EJ: Incident occurred January 24, 2012 at Orange County Airport (KORG), Orange, Texas
ORANGE COUNTY - There are no injuries resulting from what investigators describe as a private jet crash in Orange County, according to information KFDM News has received from the Texas Department of Public Safety and Capt. Joe Mires with the Orange Fire Department.
The crash was reported at about 10 a.m. at the Orange County Airport.
The pilot, Claude Edward Collins, said the runway was wet, causing the Cessna 560 Citation to slide off the paved runway during landing at about 10 a.m., according to Trooper Stephanie Davis with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
A spokesman for Orange County says a wind gust pushed the plane off the runway, causing the nose gar to collapse.
The pilot wasn't hurt. The jet's front landing gear was damaged. The pilot had flown from Alabama to Orange County.
The Orange Fire Department and law enforcement officers responded to the call.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were notified.
The Orange County Airport will be closed until further notice pending clearance from the FAA and NTSB for cleanup
The Orange County Emergency Management office has reported a jet aircraft carrying nine people, slid off runway at the Orange County Airport at approximately 10:03 a.m. today.
Reports indicate the jet came in for landing and a wind gust pushed the airplane off the runway, causing the nose gear to collapse.
The names of those on board the plane were not released and no injuries have been reported.
Officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety were on the scene to help assist. Sergeant Richard Howard with the DPS office said the FAA has been notified and the Orange County Airport will be closed until further notice pending clearance from the FAA and NTSB for cleanup.
The Texas Department of Public Safety says the accident happened around 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Orange County Airport near Orange, about 100 miles northeast of Houston.
Airport spokeswoman Jill Shores says wind gusts also helped pushed the aircraft from the runway on a morning when the area had rainstorms.
Trooper Stephanie Davis identified the pilot of the Cessna 560 as Claude Edward Collins.
DPS had no immediate details on where the flight originated in Alabama or the owner of the twin-engine jet, which suffered landing gear damage in the accident.
Airport spokeswoman Jill Shores says wind gusts also helped pushed the aircraft from the runway on a morning when the area had rainstorms.
Spiraling descent from 30,000 feet over 8 minutes:
ReplyDeletehttps://flightaware.com/live/flight/N3RB
Updated address link so accident flight is not scrolled off the 14 day list due to spurious 19 January "flight" at default address:
Deletehttps://flightaware.com/live/flight/N3RB/history/20210109/2030Z/KTTD/KBOI
Mapped location of last ADS-B position:
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:44.9905+-121.1256
Citation 560, SN: 560-0035 was previously registered N561EJ at a charter company whose Facebook posting in July 2020 indicated the aircraft had been a workhorse for 10 years there.
ReplyDeleteInfo recorded in for sale listing (still searchable on N561EJ) includes:
Airframe total time 13,657 hours, 13,098 landing cycles, engines 1/2 13,113/13,509 Hours, 12,591/12,941 cycles, 770/318 hours remaining before overhaul.
One N561EJ runway departure event in 2012:
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2012/01/cessna-citation-560-aircraft-on-landing.html
Cabin decompression is a scenario they'll take a close at. Or failure to pressurize in the first place. About 7 minutes elapsed from the time they climbed above 15,000 ft (on their way to 30,000) to the time the plane entered a right turn which quickly developed into a spiral dive. Decompression is clearly a possible scenario here.
ReplyDeleteYes, this seems likely, but unlike the Payne Stewart Learjet accident, the autopilot was seemingly not engaged. I also wonder about the pilot's age and physical condition, thinking of incapacitation due to a sudden physiological event, though these are relatively rare. The pressurization scenario sure looks possible.
DeleteLiveAtc.com Troutdale "KTTD Ground" archive includes pilot's audible pre-taxi transmissions (near the end of the 2030Z-2100Z segment and in the first moment of the 2100Z-2130Z segment) for 9 Jan 2021.
ReplyDeleteIn the pre-taxi exchange it is unclear whether pilot seems off or just sounds laid back/casual. The "KTTD Ground" recording has control through attempted handoff to Portland departure a minute after takeoff.
The handoff after takeoff is apparently not acknowledged by the pilot:
"Citation three romeo bravo, contact Portland Departure, have a good flight". Then about 90 seconds later:
"Citation three romeo bravo, contact Portland one th-, one three three point zero". Then about 10 seconds later:
"Citation three romeo bravo, Portland ahh Troutdale tower, if you hear me, ident". The flight continues on, as indicated in the FlightAware track.
LiveAtc does not permit direct archive file linking, but you can navigate and play the KTTD archive at this link:
https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=kttd
You can post a link from live ATC. Just got to the airport, date and time you're looking for and hit submit. The audio comes up and a highlighted blue link comes up below the player control. Right click on the mp3 file, click on copy and you're set. Then use paste to put it wherever you want.
DeleteBut, here on K/R you can not post a "live" link directly to the file.
Here's the file for 01/09/21 for 2100Z.
https://archive.liveatc.net/kttd/KTTD1-Gnd-Jan-09-2021-2100Z.mp3
You have to copy the link and past that to whatever you use.
JW
Thank you for this info. The pilot did sound a little off. In one exchange, the controller had him repeat saying it wasn't clear.
DeleteWe'll see what unfolds as more info pours in.
This was the first flight of the aircraft since November, according to Flightaware logs, and just got a new owner in October. Possibly just got out of maintainance during that time?
ReplyDeleteAnd the aircraft did a lot of local flying out of Scottsdale in the time between being flown there from Portland on October 22 and returning November 18.
DeleteSome of the Arizona based flight time may have included pilot training. Easy to flip through plots for those days on adsbexchange. The 13 and 14 November tracks are curious.
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a31c19&lat=45.382&lon=-121.940&zoom=8.6&showTrace=2021-01-09
DeleteDamn that's a high speed impact if I ever saw one. Total lawn dart. What the hell happened, and RIP.
ReplyDeleteNot hypoxia. Sounds more like a medical issue a stroke or heart attack.
ReplyDeleteWhatever was going on started early. Not responsive to ATC at handoff, tracked north of the TIMEE report point of filed route and looks hand flown instead of autopilot.
DeleteAgree....if the A/P was set for ALT and NAV to their next waypoint, or even in HDG mode, the plane would have not fell off into spirals. I think cabin pressure issues shouldn't be a distant chime in the cockpit with a small red warning. Assume the person viewing it is 2/3 gone already. All hell should break lose in the cockpit.
DeleteDefinitely self-inflicted!
DeleteSuicide?
ReplyDeleteSeems unlikely, with track showing nine tightening 360's in 8 minutes.
DeleteCabin decompression.
DeleteOdd conclusion.
DeleteI heard a Citation pilot say those were hand flown circles not a plane out of control.
DeleteLink below is exact mapped impact location by comparison to photo. Two-track and tree patterns have clear match at y-fork in bottom quarter of photo. Top of photo is north, same as map:
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:44.995207+-121.137596
No It wasnt suicide. I knew this man he was happy and enjoying life. I gaurantee it was pressurization. Both people went to sleep.....
ReplyDeleteJust because someone looks happy and enjoying life doesn't mean they are. You may know him but, I guarantee you don't know what was in his head.
Deletesingle pilot with a pax or two crew? was the pilot single pilot qualified?
ReplyDeleteAlthough cabin pressurization systems have a lot of redundancy and fail safe features in their design, undetected material aging and a loose clamp caused a pressure loss in 2016 on a Cessna 501 (N804ST).
ReplyDeleteN804ST's primary cabin pressure supply duct came loose at 43000 feet and the aged plastic flappers of the in-line check valve in the supply path did not function to trap residual cabin pressure. The pilot started a descent, passed out, rode down uncontrolled, woke up and recovered at 7000 feet, then landed safely.
Some similar type of unusual aging or maintenance issue could have happened in the N3RB accident.
N804ST NTSB Report:
https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/93256/pdf
N804ST Check valve photos:
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40459046&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=NTSB%20Materials%20Laboratory%20Factual%20Report%2016-088-Master.PDF
N804ST Docket:
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=93256
I boroscope those engines after EJ went off the runway,.
ReplyDeleteSuicide is possibility. Google the pilot and owner Richard Boehlke. Ties to 911 and Organized Crime.
ReplyDeleteI've been all over this since last night. There are so many twists and turns (not unlike the crash) to the plane owner's finances, businesses, business dealings and partners that it's hard to follow. Seemingly legitimate businesses and philanthropy mixed in with shady businesses, possible ponzi schemes and perhaps getting in the bad graces of a few unions and the mob. Even his current business leaves more questions than answers. Slick website, grand schemes, seemingly admirable intentions but...no real concrete results, or real concrete facilities for that matter, noted.
DeleteIt definitely was a fun little (not really "little") rabbit hole I went down today to briefly try to trace his history. Was he sued by the FTC back in the 90's for a "work from home" business?
DeleteRichard Wayne Boelkhe
ReplyDeleteThe correct spelling is Boehlke
DeleteRatings
Private Pilot
Private Pilot - Airplane Single Engine Land
Private Pilot - Airplane Single Engine Sea
Private Pilot - Airplane Multiengine Land
Private Pilot - Airplane Multiengine Sea
Private Pilot - Instrument Airplane
Private Pilot - Rotorcraft-Helicopter
Type Ratings:
P/G-111
P/LR-JET
Medical Class: 2
Medical Date: 09/2020
Expiration Date: 09/2021
So....wait. He didn't even have a Citation type rating? Yikes.
DeleteVery likely a simple matter of impaired pilot. Non-pilot passenger could not take over during the spiral descent. There wasn't anyone on the plane holding the pilot at gunpoint and planning to bail out like some action movie.
ReplyDeleteThe FAA and NTSB needs to get in contact with Thomas T.
ReplyDelete"I witnessed the crash while I was hiking the Criterion Trail. The plane appeared to have exploded on impact. We saw the explosion several seconds before we felt the shockwave."
Boehlke (age 72), not typed in a Citation
ReplyDeleteAs the poster listed above the pilot was not rated (typed) for the C/E 560
DeleteThe types listed above are for..
G-111= G-64 Albatross and, GSA16
LR-JET= All learjets except the LR45, and 60 which require a separate type
To be rated for the 560 you need a CE-500 type. Also, to fly the 560 single pilot, the type needs to be CE-500S.
To qualify for the single pilot exemption, the Conditions and limitations are:
Operations have to be conducted under part 91
Pilot must hold a airline transport pilot or commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating
Pilot must hold a first or second class medical certificate
Pilot must have logged at 1,000 total flight time to include:
50 hours of night time
75 hours of instrument time
40 hours of actual instrument time
500 hours as pilot in command or second in command time or combination of both in turbine powered aircraft
Use of a boom microphone and headset while exercising privileges of exemption
Use a full functioning autopilot
Complete a yearly recurrent single-pilot training program
It appears the pilot did not have a commercial or ATP certificate.
Not sure if met the other requirements.
There is no such rating as a CE-500S only a CE-500 with a "Single Pilot Waiver"
DeleteYou are correct. I misread the Reg's for the 525 series to include the 560. The 525 series does have a single pilot designation of C/E-525S.
DeleteTo fly the C/E 560 single pilot you must have a C/E-500 type rating plus a logbook endorsement stating “I certify that (first name, MI, last name) has successfully completed the CE-500 single-pilot training curriculum conducted by(Name of Company) for the (model-specific type, e.g., CE-560) identified in Exemption No. xxxxx, as amended.” [date] [Name of examiner] [Examiner License #] [expiration date of CFI conducting the Examination]
Thank you for correcting my previous post. JW
In reference to the above, the 500, 550, 560, S550, & 550B are Part 25 Transport aircraft, whereas the 510, 525, 501, & 551 are Part 23 Aircraft. Thus the Part 25 requiring 2 crew, but of course the Single Pilot Exemption is available upon meeting the applicable requirements for such.
DeleteUntil both names are released, there is still the possibility of a properly rated pilot on board who was hired to fly the passenger or to serve as safety pilot or instructor.
ReplyDeleteThe “properly rated” pilot on board was a 41 year old - Low time CFI that thought Boehlke was typed and legal in the plane. You’ll see who that was and how he was connected in the very near future. Boehlke wanted to make this look like an accident. For a few days, it worked.
ReplyDeleteAn important piece of info is the fact that the topographic map elevation of the impact point is 3,560 feet MSL.
DeleteIf a CFI was present and functioning well enough to monitor or perform what does appear to be a controlled spiral descent, the aircraft would have been brought back to level flight well before the 3,900 feet MSL ADS-B data point of 04:36:21 was reached.
Maybe the CVR will have recoverable cabin audio and sounds of a fight for control will be heard at the point where leveling off should have occurred. If the evil plot theory holds true, the cabin microphone probably wouldn't be functional for the accident flight.
Topo map (impact point is on dashed two-track in square #2):
https://www.topozone.com/oregon/wasco-or/locale/mutton-mountain-corral/
Pinned impact location map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:44.995207+-121.137596
In February 2003 I was attending Airline Training Academy in Orlando (ORL) Florida when they suddenly and without warning locked the doors, bankrupt. This school was owned by retired Delta airlines captain James (Jim) Williams and family, who also founded Comair Academy years earlier before he sold it to Delta Airlines. After several twists and turns, which can be found on Mad Cow News, it was established that Jim Williams and family was in business with Wallace (Wally) Hilliard and Rudy Decker, business (crime) partners of Boehlke. All told the students at ATA lost a combined total of $17M in funds that were on account with ATA. I lost $25k, some students lost as much as $80k. I have no sympathy for the deceased.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have not known someone personally that has committed suicide in an airplane, I did personally know someone that was $165m in debt to the banks and he took a bunch of pills because he was on the verge of being outed by banks and other financial entities.
ReplyDeleteIt's very likely that Richard was in a similar position, and maybe he did it this way to make sure all insurance money paid out??
Just a thought.
Any update on this accident?
ReplyDeleteSome additional aerial photos at link below. No press releases or coroner id of victims could be found in Saturday web searching.
Deletehttps://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/the-latest/2021/01/15/new-photos-of-baffling-citation-crash-in-oregon/
Do they know who the second passenger pilot was
ReplyDeleteScottsdale flight track of N3RB on 13 November included four 360's circling left, followed by four 360's to the right. Maybe doing inflight 360's was a signature move and the pilot was not as sharp on the accident day.
ReplyDeletehttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a31c19&lat=34.370&lon=-111.810&zoom=11.8&showTrace=2020-11-13
Scottsdale flight on 14 November also had multiple 360's:
Deletehttps://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a31c19&lat=34.700&lon=-111.450&zoom=10.8&showTrace=2020-11-14
Are there any plausible explanations for doing 360s like these enroute? The more I read about the pilot, the stranger he seems.
DeleteI'm not a pilot, so forgive my ignorance.
Monday Morning Quarter-Backing: Why I'm disgusted with Dan Gryder (DC-3 Guy)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/kx1rxn/monday_morning_quarterbacking_why_im_disgusted/
The descending spiral would have been actively controlled by the autopilot if the pilot used Touch Control Steering (TCS) to initiate descent in response to an emergency while the autopilot was operating in default pitch and roll control mode.
ReplyDeleteTCS allows a pilot to manually fly and retrim the aircraft without dis-engaging the autopilot. Operation of the TCS button has no effect on flight director mode of operation. Autopilot will maintain the attitude established by the pilot's last TCS input when in default pitch and roll control mode.
Passing out after establishing a circling descent via TCS but without setting up FD control of altitude would produce this accident if consciousness was not regained.
Pilot Boehlke would have been experienced on the Honeywell EFIS and the TCS feature from Lear Jet training and past usage. The accident aircraft having familiar legacy Honeywell EFIS with TCS may have been a selection criteria before purchase was made.
According to ads-b info, the auto pilot was not set, and he busted the assigned altitude of 23,000 ft. During the spiral, his vertical decent was at times over -12,000 ft/min , so that theory is not is not valid.
DeleteHand flown appearance of the data and climbing beyond assigned altitude does not rule out pilot usage of TCS with autopilot engaged but uncoupled from flight director. Not the best way to operate if pilot becomes impaired.
DeletePeople who flew with the accident pilot probably know whether or not he would use TCS in that mode to reduce hand flying workload.