An experienced 54-year-old Wisconsin pilot and his daughter were able to walk away from their plane with minor injuries after it crashed Thursday in heavy timber in a remote part of Rocky Mountain National Park, the National Park Service said today.
The pilot was identified as Jim Michaels, 54, from Oconomowoc, Wis. With him was his daughter, Tonie, 18, who is also a pilot but was not flying the plane.
The impact of the crash in the heavily wooded upper Forest Canyon caused the plane’s wings to fold back and the canopy of 2009 American Champion Aircraft to be sheared off, said Rocky Mountain National Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson.
However, the cockpit remained intact, the plane did not catch fire and Michaels and his daughter were able to walk away, said Patterson.
The plane came to rest against a large fir tree.
Patterson said that park rangers were alerted to the crash at 6:30 p.m. Thursday by the Civil Air Patrol.
The CAP said it had received signals from an Emergency Locator Transmitter at 12:30 p.m. and again at 4:24 p.m. Thursday from a downed plane near Milner Pass in the western part of the park.
Two CAP airplanes located the ELT beacon at 8 p.m. Thursday and also saw two points of light, believed to have been fires, in the same area.
Patterson said that park rangers began hiking to the area from the Gore Range Overlook on Trail Ridge Road and searched the area until 2 a.m. today. They resumed the search at 5 a.m. and reached the two victims at 6:40 a.m.
After they crashed, the Michaels built a shelter from the plane wreckage and adjacent trees, which gave them protection from storms that were hitting the area. They also built two signal fires.
When they spotted a plane overhead, they added aviation fuel and a tire to one of the fires to create black smoke, said Patterson.
Michaels and his daughter had left Oconomowoc on Wednesday and stayed in Greeley on Wednesday night. They had planned to fly to Aspen and a couple of other Colorado towns before returning to Wisconsin.
A helicopter from Grand Teton National Park, which was assisting in firefighting efforts at the Cow Creek Fire, flew into the area of the plane crash today. Michaels and his daughter were then flown out by the helicopter.
Patterson said that the National Transportation Safety Board will be conducting the investigation with the assistance of the National Park Service.
She added that the Michaels do not want to speak to the media. He has been flying since he was 16 years old.
There have been seven aircraft crashes with 11 fatalities in the park since 1948. The last fatal crash was in 2000 near Comanche Peak with two fatalities, said Patterson.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
