At about 1730 Pacific time, the airplane collided with a tree. The flight instructor and his student both received fatal injuries; the airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual conditions prevailed.
After the flight was reported overdue, a search was initiated, an emergency locator transmitter signal was detected and a follow-up “pinging” of the cell phone of one of the occupants lead to the discovery of the wreckage. All of the airplane’s structure, except the outboard one-third of the right wing, was found in a steep nose-down attitude in a level grassy field. The missing wing section was located about 200 yards north of the main wreckage, where it had impacted a tall conifer tree.
