Big Horn National Forest Aerial Patrol Accident Fatalities 1983

The Rocky Mountain Region reported thunderstorm activity with heavy lightning in the Big Horn National Forest, Wyoming on September 6, 1983 and again the afternoon of September 8th. Air patrol missions on this Forest were routinely conducted after lightning storms, therefore, an air patrol was ordered for Friday, September 9th. On Friday morning, the pilot of a Forest Service contracted Cessna T210 obtained a weather briefing and filed an FAA flight plan. At 1127 MDT, the aircraft departed the Sheridan, Wyoming Airport for air patrol of the northern part of the Forest with the pilot and a Forest Service observer on board. At approximately 1150 MDT, the Forest Service fire crew at the Smith Creek Fire heard an aircraft engine south of their location, in the canyon. They heard the engine sound for approximately 30 seconds before hearing the sound of a crash. At approximately 1210 MDT, the fire crew located the aircraft about one half of a mile south of the Smith Creek Fire, seven miles west of Dayton, Wyoming. The immediate vicinity of the mishap was a steep box canyon approximately 1,200 feet to 1,300 feet wide at the mishap elevation of 7,200 feet MSL. The fire crew reported heavy fog in the treetops and variable winds from the south at the time they heard the aircraft and at the mishap site. The crew reported that both aircraft occupants were fatally injured. There was no fire at the wreckage site.

No NTSB report is available for this accident, nor are the pilot's and observer's names readily available.