Looks like he missed KHDN and was headed toward KSAA. If that’s the case, there’s a couple of 10,000’+ mountain peaks directly between the CHE VOR and SAA, right about where the track stops.
IIRC there was a Web site (a Texas university I believe) that allowed you to search for historical weather data (METARs) for specific airports. I can’t seem to find it now. Anyone know the site I’m thinking of…?
uswx.com/us/stn/?code=d&n=200&stn=kjan
Type in the airport code and click get OBS at the above website.
1440 is the max number of obs you can retrieve.
Thank you, sir.
Time (GMT) Secs Dir Spd Unit T_C DP_C Pres Sky Vis Unit Ceiling RH
Mon Dec 22 16:15:00 2008 1229962500 150 6 KT -3 -6 1003 Cloudy 10 mi 5000 ft 80 -7
Here’s the ASN Accident Description
Pilot reported landing gear problems, and stated he was working on the problem.
All contact with the aircraft was lost, and aircraft picked up ELT signals.
Wreckage was located after 2pm about 2 1/2 miles NW of Elkhead Reservoir, which was some 10 miles NW of the airport.
The tracks shown are misleading. The plane apparently crashed about halfway between KHDN and the point where the tracks show where the plane turned northeast toward KSAA.
It crashed near the top of hilly terrain, but there is higher terrain (about 500 feet higher) between the reported crash site and HDN.
HDN field elevation is 6602’. Elevation at crash site is between 6,500’ and 6,800’, and terrain between HDN and crash site peaks at about 7,100’.
So if the ceiling at HDN was 5,000’ above the airport elevation of 6,600’, the surrounding terrain should’ve been visible…