Search team reaches pilot’s body

STANLEY, Idaho — A recovery team on Wednesday was expected to retrieve the body of a lone pilot from a crash site in the central Idaho backcountry.

Crews spent nearly two days searching for the downed plane flown by Robert P. Danner, 63, of Stanley.

Authorities said Danner took off in his Cessna 206 from the Pistol Creek airstrip near the Middle Fork of the Salmon River on Monday night.

Danner had been in the air about 30 minutes when weather conditions abruptly turned rough, forcing the plane down about 10 miles northwest of Stanley.

Search efforts were hampered by rugged terrain, which caused the plane’s emergency locater to echo off steep canyon walls.

Recovery efforts were also hampered by an early season storm that dumped 6 inches of snow on high mountain peaks, the Idaho Transportation Department said in a prepared statement released Wednesday.

The wreck was spotted Tuesday evening at the 8,700-foot level of Cape Horn Peak on the lower end of the Stanley Basin.

The search team landed at the crash site at about 7 p.m. and confirmed the death of Danner, an experienced and locally well-known pilot.

The Valley County Sheriff’s Department planned to return to the crash site Wednesday afternoon and transport the body to Hailey, weather permitting.