Utah Wing find -- yesterday afternoon

[w7sar]

Pilot dies in Antelope Island plane crash

Stansbury man had been flying a Zodiac experimental aircraft

By Ben Winslow

Deseret News
Published: March 4, 2009

ANTELOPE ISLAND — A 37-year-old pilot of a small experimental aircraft died Wednesday when it crashed halfway up the rocky slopes on the west side of Antelope Island.

Kirk Babbit of Stansbury Park took off from Tooele and was scheduled to land at Skypark Airport in Woods Cross. When he didn't arrive, concerned family members and friends reported him "overdue."

The Davis County Sheriff's Office immediately called out volunteer searchers from the Utah Civil Air Patrol, which is affiliated with the U.S. Air Force. CAP volunteer crews took off in two planes at 2:45 p.m. and began searching several grids over the Tooele Valley and the Great Salt Lake.

"It looked like a patch of snow," said Lt. Col. Max Kieffer, the CAP pilot who spotted the plane from 1,000 feet in the air at 4:45 p.m. "Like an out-of-place patch of snow."

Kieffer dropped to about 500 feet and made another pass down the island's bowl-shaped westside canyon to get a better look at the crash site and the crumpled white metal remains of the plane lying on the dark background of the mountain's loose rock.

Coordinates were relayed and the Department of Public safety and a medical helicopter landed, but could not immediately get to site because of the canyon's steep terrain.

The DPS helicopter ferried search and rescue teams from the state park headquarters on the east side of the island to an area near the crash site.

"We've been able to identify a craft and an individual in the plane itself," said Davis County Sheriff's Lt. Brad Wilcox.

Searchers had to hike about 1 1/2 miles along the west shore of island in the Great Salt Lake to reach the site.

"Steep and rugged, extremely rugged," Wilcox said of the terrain.

At 7:45 p.m. a DPS helicopter transported Babbit's body down from the site. His body will be taken the state medical examiner's office where an autopsy will be performed.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and will investigate the crash.

The plane, which appeared largely intact, is a Zodiac 601XL, according to CAP

The Civil Air Patrol had contacted authorities earlier about an emergency signal on the west side of Antelope Island.

[SJFedor]

That's really sad to hear, but outstanding in the fact that 2 hours after wheels up, they had located the crash site.

[wingnut55]

Outstanding Job UTAH WING CAP

[JoeTomasone]

Outstanding Job UTAH WING CAP

X2   :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

I've been to Antelope Island (wife was living 10 minutes from it when I met her).   I don't envy the ground team.   Bravo Zulu to all involved.

[wingnut55]

ARMINGTON, Utah (AP) - A 37-year-old pilot is dead after his small plane crashed on an island in the Great Salt Lake.

A spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol says the plane took off from Tooele on Tuesday and was headed to Bountiful. The Civil Air Patrol began searching for the aircraft at about 1 p.m. after it failed to arrive.

Lt. Brad Wilcox of the Davis County sheriff's office says the patrol contacted his agency at about 4:40 p.m., saying a signal from the plane's emergency beacon had been detected on Antelope Island.

He says a sheriff's helicopter went to the island and spotted the plane's wreckage in a ravine. Rescuers hiked to the crash site, removed the pilot's body from the plane and took it to a sheriff's command post.

[wingnut55]

SO this went out on the AP wire, the sheriff gave no credit to CAP for finding the crash, just the ELT beacon.

Very sad, but the PR stuff is an important Battle.

[RiverAux]

It is pretty common practice for CAP Information Officers to let the local law enforcement types take the lead on announcing when someone has died in a crash.  That being the case, sometimes the locals may not give CAP a lot of credit, but usually there has been enough CAP-directed public affairs before the find that most people will have known of our involvement.

When it comes down to it, that particular blurb isn't too bad. 

[wingnut55]

yes True, I was on the Fosett mission and it was a three ring Circus. The AFRCC school gives  a lot of time to PR time. Nonetheless my hats off to the Utah guys. We don't need to come home to a band.

Well maybe not a big one! and at least a free chicken  McNugget

[jimmydeanno]

Here's another article that popped up on my alerts:

The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the reason why a small aircraft crashed on Antelope Island Tuesday morning, killing the pilot.

Kirk Babbit, a 37-year-old experienced pilot from Stansbury Park, departed from the Tooele Valley Airport in his kit-built Zodiac CH650 at approximately 8:30 a.m. en route to the Bountiful Sky Park. From there he planned to commute into Salt Lake for work by car, according to Lt. Brad Wilcox of the Davis County Sheriff's Office.

"His family said he usually notifies his wife by e-mail when he gets to work," Wilcox said. "But 9:30 came and went and with no e-mail."

Family members notified authorities, who contacted the Civil Air Patrol, an all-volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. The patrol initiated an aerial search for Babbit's plane.

"We were tasked out at about 1 p.m. and within an hour we had two airplanes in the air — one from Ogden and one from Salt Lake," said Lt. Sue Chamberlin, spokesperson for the Civil Air Patrol's Utah wing.

The planes did a parallel search of the Tooele Valley, the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island.

"Our searchers are trained to spot things from the air and they take pictures," Chamberlin said.

At around 4 p.m., CAP searchers located what appeared to be a wreckage site in Red Rock Canyon on Antelope Island, where the terrain is rugged and mountainous.

"The crew noted a white patch on the ground on the south side of a ravine where snow had melted," Chamberlin said.

CAP notified the Davis County Sheriff's Office of the discovery, who then dispatched a ground search-and-rescue crew. A Department of Public Safety helicopter transported the crew to the scene, where they confirmed the wreckage to be that of Babbit's plane.

"They hiked to the crash site, stabilized the wreckage and extricated the victim," Wilcox said. "We believe he died on impact."

Wilcox said the two-seater aircraft was fairly new, leading his office to believe that Babbit didn't suffer from any mechanical problems.

Wind speeds at the Tooele Valley Airport were about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph on Tuesday morning — not strong enough to deter any pilot from flying, according to Steve Jackson, general aviation manager for the airport.

"Winds like that are very normal at the Tooele Valley Airport," Jackson said. "They weren't anything excessive."

The exact cause of the crash will not be known until the National Transportation Safety Board completes the eight- to 10-week investigation.

[Polecat]

Outstanding Job UTAH WING CAP

X2   :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

I've been to Antelope Island (wife was living 10 minutes from it when I met her).   I don't envy the ground team.   Bravo Zulu to all involved.

No ground teams on this one, just some of our great aircrewmen.

I know this thread has been silent for a while but just wanted to add this detail.

[Larry Mangum]

We use to go out to Antelope island when I was a young airman stationed at Hill.

[JoeTomasone]

Outstanding Job UTAH WING CAP

X2   :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

I've been to Antelope Island (wife was living 10 minutes from it when I met her).   I don't envy the ground team.   Bravo Zulu to all involved.

No ground teams on this one, just some of our great aircrewmen.

I know this thread has been silent for a while but just wanted to add this detail.

I was referring to the previously mentioned rescue crew who did go on foot.  Didn't mean to imply a CAP GT.

[Polecat]

Oh ok I gotcha.