The airplane, operated by the Civil Air Patrol as CAPS flight 4940, was destroyed when it impacted terrain and caught fire at approximately 1700 mountain time. Marginal visual conditions prevailed. The commercial pilot and two non-pilot observers were fatally injured. The flight was engaged in a search and rescue mission for a missing hiker. At 1756, search and rescue teams located the hiker and, at approximately the same time, a forest fire was discovered. After several water drops were made on the fire, the accident airplanes wreckage was discovered. Significant portions of the wreckage were melted and partially consumed by fire. Portions of the right wing were located just to the west of the main wreckage and exhibited extensive exposure to heat and fire. The airplanes engine had separated from the fuselage and came to rest approximately 100 feet downhill (east) of the main wreckage. It exhibited no apparent fire damage.
August 20, 2007, Dayton, Wyo., Cessna 182R
The airplane, operated by the Civil Air Patrol as CAPS flight 4940, was destroyed when it impacted terrain and caught fire at approximately 1700 mountain time. Marginal visual conditions prevailed. The commercial pilot and two non-pilot observers were fatally injured. The flight was engaged in a search and rescue mission for a missing hiker. At 1756, search and rescue teams located the hiker and, at approximately the same time, a forest fire was discovered. After several water drops were made on the fire, the accident airplanes wreckage was discovered.
Key Takeaways:
- A Civil Air Patrol airplane (CAPS flight 4940) crashed and caught fire during a search and rescue mission, resulting in the fatalities of the commercial pilot and two observers under marginal visual conditions.
- The wreckage was discovered after a forest fire erupted in the area, which was found around the same time the missing hiker (the target of the search) was located.
- Significant portions of the airplane's wreckage were consumed by fire, though its separated engine showed no fire damage.
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