20111129028059A

On 11/29/2011 the pilot departed aniak to pick up one passenger at chuathbaluk, Alaska, 10 miles to the east. The weather had beeen below VFR minimums, but at approximately 1905 it improved to 3 miles of visibility. The pilot departed at approximately 1920 and the passenger saw the pilot-activated runway lights come on at chu at approximately 1925. At that time, the passenger could see "the entire runway all the way to the end". A couple of minutes later, snow began falling heavily and the passenger could no longer see across the runway. At 1940 the airport lights shut off. Search teams located the wreckage of the C-207 approximately two miles west of chu on the opposite side of the river at 0145 11/30/2011. The plane had hit the top of a tree, then lost part of a wing in another. From the initial tree impact to the main wreckage was about 170 feet. The pilot did not survive the crash.NTSB and FSDO representatives went to the crash site on 12/1/2011. The aircraft was destroyed in the crash with parts spread over approximately 185 feet. It had snowed the prior night and continued to snow while we were there, hiding some impact scars and burying some debris. Evidence pointed to a high energy impact and that the engine was warm at the time, indicating that it was running. The propeller was torn from the engine and had evidence that it was turning when it hit the ground. We could not tell what the fuel state had been.