News articles indicate the pilot reported engine troubles to ATC shortly before disappearing from radar. The closest airport to the location of the descent is said to by Johnson Creek [3U2], just south of Yellow Pine, ID. This airport is at the bottom of a deep valley, in mountainous terrain with peaks 9,000′ to 10,000’+.
Here is a table showing times (Eastern Standard Time), heading, computed speed, altitude, and climb/descent in ft/min. The 3:04PM data lists FlightAware instead of Salt Lake Center, indicating there was no flight data from ATC. In the data below, note the erratic heading, the loss of speed, and the accelerating descent, all marked with red/bold text.
02:47PM | 81° | East | 199mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:48PM | 83° | East | 203mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:49PM | 87° | East | 211mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:50PM | 88° | East | 220mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:51PM | 80° | East | 223mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:52PM | 76° | East | 222mph | 13,200ft | Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:53PM | 82° | East | 223mph | 13,200ft | -60 Level | Salt Lake Center |
02:55PM | 79° | East | 223mph | 13,100ft | -180 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
02:56PM | 74° | East | 208mph | 12,900ft | -540 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
02:57PM | 62° | Northeast | 189mph | 12,100ft | -540 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
02:58PM | 76° | East | 191mph | 11,800ft | Descending | Salt Lake Center |
02:59PM | 75° | East | 192mph | 12,200ft | Climbing | Salt Lake Center |
03:00PM | 38° | Northeast | 169mph | 11,800ft | -420 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
03:01PM | 75° | East | 176mph | 11,400ft | -840 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
03:02PM | 84° | East | 174mph | 10,100ft | -1,260 Descending | Salt Lake Center |
03:04PM | 88° | East | Level | FlightAware Approximate | ||
03:11PM | 88° | East | Level | FlightAware Approximate |
Weather at McCall and Salmon indicate a low overcast layer around the time of the accident:
- KMYL 011851Z AUTO 15013G19KT 10SM -RA FEW012 OVC024 02/00 A3004
- KSMN 011915Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM OVC045 03/01 A2994
The N36ML flight at FlightAware: [link]
Airport data for Johnson Creek: [link]
News articles:
- http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/12/02/2904446/small-airplane-went-missing-over.html
- http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/dec/02/search-begins-for-missing-plane-in-central-idaho/
- 12/4/13 article, identifying the pilot as Dale Smith, CEO of SerialTek in San Jose; also identifying the others as his son, his son’s wife, plus his daughter and her fiance. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/frantic-search-tech-executive-dale-smith-vanished-flying-airplane-passengers-idaho-article-1.1536967
- 12/5/13 article in Deseret News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865591849/Families-face-uncertainty-unite-in-prayer-as-search-for-crash-victims-continues.html