Wow. Found more info online using the N-#
Left Seat Pilot (the old guy hurt pretty bad) retired from Idaho Air National Guard in 1995...
http://kathrynaviationnews.com/?p=64421
The link also posts that this same ol' fella (Groop) had an accident in 2010 posted below... Not a good look. They are all lucky to be alive tho. How does the saying go? Any landing you walk away from is a good landing.
Previous accident on April 10, 2010:
NTSB Identification: WPR10CA201
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, April 10, 2010 in Galena, ID
Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/12/2010
Aircraft: CESSNA 150D, registration: N4296U
Injuries: 1 Minor,1 Uninjured.
The pilot reported that he intended to fly his airplane on a cross-country flight over high mountainous terrain. After takeoff, the pilot climbed to 9,500 feet mean sea level (msl) in order to fly over mountains. He subsequently descended to 8,500 feet msl, and then he attempted to climb back to 9,500 feet to clear additional mountains. This second climbing effort diminished his fuel reserve, so the pilot opted to divert to a 7,160-foot msl uncontrolled airport short of his destination. While flying over the airport to evaluate its runway’s condition, the pilot noted that the runway was covered with snow. The pilot opined that because of the airplane’s low fuel state, it was prudent for him to land. The pilot made a soft-field landing on the runway. During rollout, the airplane’s wheels penetrated the snow-covered surface, the airplane nosed over, and both wings and the empennage broke.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot’s encounter with soft, snow-covered terrain while executing a precautionary landing.
Plane crash-lands at Smiley Creek
Pilot and passenger walk away from incident -April 10, 2010:
A pilot and passenger escaped injury after their single-engine plane flipped upon making an emergency landing at the snow-covered Smiley Creek airstrip on Saturday.
The Cessna 150D, piloted by 67-year-old Leslie Gropp, connected with the snowy runway and immediately flipped over on its top, reported Blaine County Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Davis. The accident occurred about 12:23 p.m.
The airstrip is located in the upper Sawtooth Valley and is surrounded by the Sawtooth, White Cloud and Smoky mountains.
Davis said Gropp decided to attempt the emergency landing in the silver aircraft because he was low on fuel. He had apparently intended to fly south over Galena Summit—the rugged watershed divide separating the upper Salmon and Big Wood river drainages—and then land on an unnamed airstrip farther south.
“The snow made him do a nose-over,” Davis said.
He said both Gropp and his passenger, 39-year-old Boise resident Mark Humtwork, were able to exit the damaged aircraft and walk to a nearby phone at the Smiley Creek Lodge to call the Blaine County Sheriff’s
Office. Neither sustained injuries from the crash, he reported.
In the summer, the dirt-covered Smiley Creek airstrip within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area is a popular landing spot for pilots in small aircraft accustomed to flying in the remote mountains of central Idaho.