Crash in Oxbow OR

Baker County Sheriff's Office
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UPDATE (4/4/23 10:28 A.M.): On April 3rd, Sheriff Ash along with Baker County Sheriff's Office deputies and representatives from the NTSB and FAA returned to the crash site in Oxbow, Oregon. The investigation continued and additional evidence was collected. Federal officials are expected to continue their investigation at the scene through April 4th.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.
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Press Release: Two Idaho Men Killed After Plane Crashes in Oxbow, Oregon
On April 2, 2023 at approximately 9:52 a.m., Sheriff Ash and Lt. Downing were in the Oxbow area when they spotted an airplane that appeared to be in distress and ultimately crashed into the hillside. They notified Baker County Dispatch as they ran to the scene. Baker County Search and Rescue, Pine Valley Rural Fire District and Halfway Ambulance were requested to respond to the area.
Sheriff Ash, Lt. Downing and Deputy Thompson began searching the area and were assisted by bystanders and Idaho Power employees. After performing a ground search of the area, they located the airplane crash site on a ridge above the Idaho Power complex and were unable to locate any survivors.
During the investigation, it was determined that the plane, piloted by Terry Lee Richards (43 yoa) of Middleton, Idaho, was flying to Lewiston, Idaho after taking off from the Caldwell Executive Airport. Richards and his passenger, Caleb Andrew Tennant (24 yoa) of Middleton, Idaho, did not survive the crash. The investigation to determine the cause of the crash is ongoing.
Baker County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by Pine Valley Rural Fire District, Halfway Ambulance, Baker Aircraft, Ada County Sheriff's Office, Baker County Search and Rescue and the National Transportation Safety Board. Special thanks to Idaho Power for allowing the use of their facilities during the investigation.
On behalf of the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Ash would like to extend his sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Richards and Mr. Tennant.
 
People on another forum are speculating he may have spiraled it in.
 
Over on Reddit mentioned he did an accelerated ppl in a couple of weeks??! How the heck does someone get insured for a high 6 figure plane with that experience???
 
PaulS said:
People on another forum are speculating he may have spiraled it in.
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Certainly must not have realized the situation, as he didn't play the "get out of jail free" card. Hopefully wasn't just reluctant to do so, either ...
 
I always feel bad for the passengers that put their confidence in the pilot that he will deliver them to their destination safely. We must do all we can to ensure their safe arrival. The passengers usually have no idea on what constitutes a capable pilot. They only know what a neat thing it is to get a ride on an airplane.
 
Brad Smith said:
I always feel bad for the passengers that put their confidence in the pilot that he will deliver them to their destination safely. We must do all we can to ensure their safe arrival. The passengers usually have no idea on what constitutes a capable pilot. They only know what a neat thing it is to get a ride on an airplane.
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No way would I fly with someone that got their PPL in 2 weeks. Hell, I remember taking off with 75% power with about 40 hrs and remember thinking to myself why the plane wasn't climbing well. Luckily my CFI noticed and corrected it. The issue with aviation is that you really need experience and there is no substitute for experience. There are a million situations that one can get into where one must pull from prior experience and lets face it, aviation is not forgiving when it comes to errors.
 
francisco collazos said:
No way would I fly with someone that got their PPL in 2 weeks. Hell, I remember taking off with 75% power with about 40 hrs and remember thinking to myself why the plane wasn't climbing well. Luckily my CFI noticed and corrected it. The issue with aviation is that you really need experience and there is no substitute for experience. There are a million situations that one can get into where one must pull from prior experience and lets face it, aviation is not forgiving when it comes to errors.
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To be fair, we don't know whether he was ab initio or just finishing up a dragged-out private pilot regimen.
 
I used an accelerated & dedicated two week PPL instructor.
That was after a prolonged and stalled period of PPL instruction followed by additional conventional PPL instruction.
The accelerated & dedicated portion got me over a hump. Worked for me and for the purposes intended.
Turned out I was just not one of those super pilots who was going to hit their PPL in the FAA minimum number of flight hours (40?). <shrug>
 
francisco collazos said:
No way would I fly with someone that got their PPL in 2 weeks. Hell, I remember taking off with 75% power with about 40 hrs and remember thinking to myself why the plane wasn't climbing well. Luckily my CFI noticed and corrected it. The issue with aviation is that you really need experience and there is no substitute for experience. There are a million situations that one can get into where one must pull from prior experience and lets face it, aviation is not forgiving when it comes to errors.
Click to expand...

In the summer here, full power can be less than 75% at our density altitude.
 
francisco collazos said:
The issue with aviation is that you really need experience and there is no substitute for experience. There are a million situations that one can get into where one must pull from prior experience and lets face it, aviation is not forgiving when it comes to errors.
Click to expand...

This short video is very sad but it points out inexperience and a simple error by the pilot that costs dearly:

 
Seems to be along the line of continuing VFR flight into deteriorating weather conditions.
 
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