Pilot survives crash, night in snow
BILLINGS – A student pilot whose plane crashed into a snowy mountainside survived a freezing night huddled in the tail of the wrecked aircraft wrapped in emergency blankets, then hiked out a mile through waist-deep snow wearing shorts, authorities said Wednesday.
The plane went down at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in a forested slope on Big Pryor Mountain, about 40 miles south of Billings, said Carbon County Sheriff Tom Rieger. The pilot – Andrew Scheffer, 18, a freshman in the Rocky Mountain College aviation program – was rescued about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, about a mile from the crash site.
He was taken to a hospital in Billings where he was listed in fair condition Wednesday night. There was no one else aboard the flight.
“He ended up hiking quite a ways in his shorts and tennis shoes, in waist-high snow. He was very cold and cut up by the time we found a place to land and could hike in to him,” said Jon Trapp, coordinator for Carbon County Search and Rescue.
Scheffer had stayed with his wrecked plane – a 2006 Piper – through the night and then started to hike out after he was spotted by rescue planes Wednesday morning, said Trapp, who was part of the group of rescuers that first met the student.
Scheffer had been on a solo training flight from Billings to Powell, Wyo. He apparently veered off course and hit the mountainside northeast of Warren, aviation and rescue officials said. Rieger said the plane hit near the top of the mountain.
With overnight temperatures dropping close to zero degrees, Scheffer dug through the plane’s emergency supplies and wrapped himself in an orange blanket to keep warm. He also was wearing a jacket and wool cap, Trapp said.
The next morning, he climbed to the top of a nearby ridge and used a cell phone to contact his flight instructor about 8:30 a.m. to report he had survived the crash, authorities said. That was almost 12 hours after he departed Billings.
Trapp said Scheffer made several other calls and sent text messages before his phone went dead. Rescuers on the ground had searched for him through the night in an area about 8 miles from the crash site, Trapp said. The downed pilot’s aircraft was spotted from the air at about 9 a.m. Wednesday.
He was suffering from mild hypothermia when he met up with rescuers and was taken to St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings.
St. Vincent emergency physician Michael Bush said Scheffer was recovering from frostbite, a minor concussion, and various cuts and bruises to his head, hands and kidney. Bush said he could be released as soon as today.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, said Mike Fergus, a spokesman for the FAA’s Northwest Mountain Region in Seattle.
Dan Hargrove, director of aviation for Rocky Mountain College, described Scheffer as an experienced pilot with 150 hours of flying experience. He said Tuesday’s solo night flight – attempted as part of the flying program’s syllabus – was not Scheffer’s first.
“He’s a private pilot and an instrument pilot – he’s a real pilot,” Hargrove said.