SEA97LA136

The pilot was flying low through a mountain valley when he observed low clouds and fog in the pass through which he was about to fly. He therefore elected to make a course reversal, but the airplane impacted trees on a ridge near one side of the valley.

On June 11, 1997, approximately 1500 mountain daylight time, an experimental Staudacher S-260-2, N540S, collided with trees during a course reversal in Lookout Pass, about seven miles east of Wallace, Idaho. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant, received serious injuries, and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. The 14 CFR Part 91 personal transportation flight, which departed Helena, Montana about 75 minutes earlier, was operating in visual meteorological conditions at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, and the ELT, which was activated by the impact, was turned off at the scene.

According to an FAA inspector who traveled to the scene of the accident, the pilot told local law enforcement officials and the doctor at the hospital where he was taken after the crash, that he had been trying to get through Lookout Pass, but because he could see low clouds and fog ahead, elected to reverse course. He said that while trying to reverse course at a very low altitude, the aircraft impacted the trees on a ridge near one side of the valley through which he was flying. The FAA reported that on the day of the flight, the pilot received two separate weather briefings for the route he was attempting, and both times he was advised that because of forecast weather, VFR flight was not recommended along that route.