The U.S. Forest Service’s Deadliest Aviation Disaster: Nez Perce National Forest

In June 1979, a group of U. S. Forest Service employees and volunteers boarded a routine flight into the remote Idaho backcountry to begin another summer season at the Moose Creek Ranger District. They never arrived. When both engines of their DC-3 failed over the narrow Selway River canyon, the pilots fought to keep the powerless aircraft in the air as the passengers prepared for the worst. What followed was a remarkable story of survival, an enormous wilderness rescue effort, and an investigation that uncovered the failures behind the deadliest aviation disaster in U. S. Forest Service history. For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to this week’s partners! DeleteMeTake control of your personal information online with DeleteMe. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you use code NPAD at checkout. Special 20% Off - DeleteMe IQBARGet 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Text PARK to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. QuinceFind elevated everyday essentials, from Mongolian cashmere and washable silk to denim, leather goods, jewelry, bedding, and more. Get free shipping and 365-day returns. Women's Best Sellers — Mongolian Cashmere, Silk & Care Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 1:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  The US Forest Service is responsible for caring for more than 190 million acres of public land across the country. And much of that work happens far beyond the places most visitors ever see. Forest Service employees maintain trails and backcountry campsites, clear fallen trees, restore watersheds, protect wildlife habitat, fight wildfires, conduct search and rescue operations, manage wilderness areas, and keep remote ranger stations running. In places without roads, they travel by foot, horseback, raft, helicopter, and small aircrafts, sometimes spending entire seasons living and working deep in the backcountry. It's demanding work, and it can also be dangerous.

• 2:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wildlife firefighters face flames, falling trees, smoke, and rapidly changing weather. Rangers and wilderness crews work around swift rivers, steep terrain, wildlife, extreme temperatures, and miles of isolation from the nearest hospital or road. And for the employees tasked with reaching some of the most remote corners of America's public lands, simply getting there to work can carry risks of its own. For generations, aviation has been an essential part of the Forest Service operations. Aircraft carry firefighters, rangers, seasonal employees, food, tools, and equipment into places that might otherwise take days to reach. Most of those flights come and go without incident, becoming just another part of the job.

• 3:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  But on June 11, 1979, a group of Forest Service employees and volunteers flying into the Idaho backcountry would learn just how quickly one of those routine trips could become a fight for survival. They were headed into the wilderness to begin another summer of caring and protecting it. Instead, their flight would become the deadliest aviation disaster in US Forest Service history. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

• 3:48Danielle LaRock?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. My name is Danielle.

• 3:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I'm Cassie. And here I am again as someone afraid to fly planes, telling a plane crash story.

• 4:00Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I think you gravitate towards the things that you're most fearful of.

• 4:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  I agree.

• 4:04Danielle LaRock?

  Just across the board. So it makes sense that you're... I really don't think I've ever told a plane crash story. Correct me if I'm wrong.

• 4:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I'll correct you because you did. In Everglades. The Everglades one.

• 4:17Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, the bonus story we did years ago.

• 4:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, that one was awful.

• 4:22Danielle LaRock?

  That is correct. That one was wild. Okay, I stand corrected. But I have kind of just...

• 4:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  One of our 500 episodes.

• 4:31Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I kind of pass this off to you. And just, I know that you have like, between the two of us, you have more connection to the Forest Service. So, and like, people, and you know, obviously Al works very closely with Wildland, the Wildland world. So I'm looking forward to hearing this story because I know you will do it justice.

• 4:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you. Yeah, this one definitely hits a little close to home. Al is working for the US Forest Service this summer, and he is working on a heli-tac crew. So he is in helicopters much more frequently than I would like him to be. So this one definitely hits close to home. But I also think it is important to highlight the dangers that come with these jobs and how they're also a really important part of why I feel like my intro was just a list of everything people in the US Forest Service do and their job roles is because it's just so all encompassing and there's so many different types of people that are out there. And while it's beautiful and you get to see these amazing corners of the country, it also comes with, with a high risk sometimes.

• 5:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I think that this story is unfortunately an example of that. And this one is definitely, definitely hard.

• 5:48Danielle LaRock?

  And it happened '79, you said?

• 5:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yep, 1979.

• 5:52Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. I don't know a thing about it. So I am here for it.

• 5:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and I had actually never heard of this before. And it's so funny because when I heard about it, I was living in Idaho, where not far from where this took place. And a listener named Molly wrote in and said that they were new listeners. So hi, Molly. Thank you for hanging out with us. Hope you're listening to this one. And recommended a book for this, for this. And the story that I had never heard of. And the book is called, In the Selway Shadows: Last Flight of 148Z. And totally put me on to the story that I otherwise would have never heard of.

• 6:32Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, last question before we get into it. Has Al heard of it? Because I'm sure you talked to him about it. Maybe when you were researching.

• 6:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  He had not heard of it until I mentioned it.

• 6:44Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 6:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  So I'm just instilling fear in everybody.

• 6:47Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 6:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not heard of it. And I love that I'm telling this story right before we're about to get on. I have not flown on a plane since we went to our group trip in Hawaii. And now we're about to leave for Scotland. And I'm like, well, I'm about to get on a plane again. So I should probably refresh my fears of aviation by telling a horrific story about it. So here we are.

• 7:11Danielle LaRock?

  I'm going to give you like Benadryl or something to inoculate. It's a red eye, thankfully.

• 7:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm nervous just thinking about it.

• 7:17Danielle LaRock?

  Well, I used to be fine. And just because I travel with you so frequently, I feel like I'm getting contact fear of flying. And I want to try and avoid that because I have...

• 7:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so funny. It's so funny because Alice says the same thing.

• 7:32Danielle LaRock?

  Well, you can't help it, you know? If someone next to you is just, you know, there's a colonial woman on the wing. Yeah, that's you. So anyway.

• 7:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  I wish that was me. My fears are, are actually warranted.

• 7:47Danielle LaRock?

  Much greater.

• 7:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, well, let's jump into the story. July 11, 1979, was a beautiful day in the Idaho backcountry. The skies were clear. The temperature was a comfortable 75 degrees Fahrenheit. And the staff of the Moose Creek Ranger District were excited to start their summer season. The Moose Creek Ranger District was unlike almost anywhere else you could work for within the US Forest Service. National forests are divided into smaller ranger districts, each with its own staff responsible for managing and protecting that particular section of public land. Located in north central Idaho, near the Montana border, the Moose Creek District covers roughly 560,000 acres

• 8:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  in the heart of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness, or the Nez Perce National Forest. So we're going to a national forest today. It was the only Forest Service Ranger District in the country located entirely within designated wilderness, meaning there were no towns, highways, logging operations, mines, or grazing lands to manage. Instead, the people who worked at Moose Creek were responsible for an enormous expanse of protected wilderness, maintaining hundreds of miles of trails, bridges, ranger stations, and fire lookouts, responding to fires and emergencies, and helping manage the growing number of people who came there to experience one of the wildest places remaining in the lower 48 of the United States. At the heart of the district

• 9:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  was the Moose Creek Ranger Station, which is still there today. It sits near the junction of Moose Creek and the Selway River, deep enough in the wilderness that there is still no road leading to it. The nearest road ends nearly 30 miles away, meaning reaching the station overland requires making the journey on foot or horseback. And the only other option is to fly in. That isolation isn't unique to Moose Creek. Huge portions of Idaho backcountry remain inaccessible by motor vehicle, which is why airplanes have long played such an important role in moving people and supplies throughout the region. More than 100 backcountry airstrips are scattered across Idaho's mountain and river valleys, providing relatively quick access to places that could otherwise

• 10:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  take days to reach on foot or horseback. For the people who worked at Moose Creek, this meant flying in was part of the job. Every year, as another summer season began, Forest Service employees and volunteers traveled from across the country to Grangeville, Idaho, the town that served as their gateway into the backcountry. From there, they boarded a plane for the roughly 60 mile flight to Moose Creek, a trip that usually only took about 30 minutes. Once there, they would spend months living and working together in near isolation. While a small number of Forest Service employees remained at Moose Creek year round, each summer brought an influx of seasonal employees and volunteers, many of whom returned year after year.

• 10:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  They called themselves the Moose Creekers, and they had a reputation within the Forest Service for being a particularly dedicated group of wilderness-minded conservationists. They were described as "tough stock," the kind of people willing to work hard and rough it in the backcountry for months at a time. But being a Moose Creeker meant becoming part of a small, close-knit community. Their home base was a collection of Forest Service buildings beside the Selway River, surrounded in every direction by mountains and forests. There was an office, cookhouse, barn, and workshop, but outside of that little cluster of buildings, there was nothing but the forest. The staff lived communally, ate together, and helped wherever they were needed.

• 11:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  They even created their own informal newsletter filled with jokes and stories about life at Moose Creek, and at night, people gathered around the campfires to sing and play music. During the 1960s and 70s, it seemed like almost everyone brought some kind of instrument into Moose Creek, from guitars and fiddles to banjos, harmonicas, mandolins, and accordions, whether they actually knew how to play them well or not. Books were also another major source of entertainment. Moose Creek had a special arrangement with the Grangefield Public Library that allowed staff to check out books for the entire summer, which were passed around and shared on bad weather days. One favorite was "A River Runs Through It" by Norman McLean, who had his own connection

• 12:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  to the wilderness, having worked for the Forest Service in the area decades earlier.

• 12:17Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, cool. I love that movie.

• 12:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  I saw it like a long time ago, but I would totally read the book, too. "A River Runs Through It," am I thinking this correctly? Correct me if I'm wrong, but is Brad Pitt in that one?

• 12:28Danielle LaRock?

  Yes.

• 12:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, I am thinking of the correct.

• 12:30Danielle LaRock?

  It's kind of the same timeframe as Legends of the Fall.

• 12:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay.

• 12:35Danielle LaRock?

  And I think, I've never read "A River Runs Through It" and other stories, but I think the story itself is relatively short, because it's in a book that has other stories, but the movie is great. I remember my dad watched it, or had me watch it when I was young, because it has to do with like fishing and stuff, and we liked to fish, even though we weren't fly fishers. And people, fly fishers are very particular about their people, and I'm sorry, I'm not. I'm a poser. I've never fly-fished.

• 13:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  I fly-fished once and I caught a dead fish.

• 13:14Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, that's false. Sorry. I have fly-fished one singular time in my life.

• 13:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  So not a poser.

• 13:22Danielle LaRock?

  Not a poser. Just growing up, yeah, I had to make sure I was clear about what side of the fence I was on.

• 13:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  And it was not the fly-fishing side.

• 13:32Danielle LaRock?

  No, but.

• 13:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, for all this, I loved, I wanted to outline like the lifestyle around this, because I just thought it was so fun. You know, you're in a small, tight-knit group community, you're playing music, you're hanging out, you're, there's no TV or Wi-Fi. I mean, maybe, no, 79, they didn't have Wi-Fi. There's no like televisions or anything like that, so you're just like passing around books and hanging out by the campfire, and it's like truly an off-grid experience with like-minded people, and I just thought that that's really cool and something that I would love to be a part of. And like I mentioned earlier, this was a place that people really loved, and they came summer after summer, and it was very much known as a place where coworkers became

• 14:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  family. It was long after you left Moose Creek, you stayed in contact with the people who were there. So when another group of Moose Creekers prepared to fly into the wilderness for the beginning of the 1979 season, many of them were returning to a place and a community that they already knew. In June of 1979, the man in charge of the Moose Creek Ranger District was Art Siemens. As district ranger, Art oversaw the staff and Forest Service operations across those 560,000 acres of wilderness, and this was his fifth summer in the role. Art, his wife Joyce, and their two daughters were actually supposed to fly into Moose Creek with the rest of the crew on June 11th, but at last minute, Joyce decided she wanted

• 15:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  to arrive a day early so she could bake a cake for everyone ahead of the season's orientation. So on June 10th, the Siemens family flew into Moose Creek aboard a smaller Cessna 206 instead. On the morning of June 11th, pilot Marvin Whitey Hatchmeister and co-pilot John Slingerland were preparing to fly the Moose Creekers from Grangefield into the ranger station for the beginning of their summer season. If there were two men you would feel comfortable making that flight with, it was Whitey, his nickname was Whitey, and John. Both were military veterans, both had decades of flying experience, and together, they had logged more than 22,000 hours in the air.

• 15:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Whitey had white hair, hence the name, and a gruff but kind demeanor who had spent much of his life around airplanes. He served in the Navy during World War II and later in the Air Force during the Korean War before being honorably discharged and eventually flying for the US Forest Service. He became especially experienced flying throughout the Mountain West, spending his summers transporting Forest Service crews and equipment into places like the Idaho backcountry. When he wasn't flying, Whitey was usually riding his motorcycle, fishing, or hunting birds. He lived in Idaho with his wife, Leona, and their five daughters. John was just as experienced.

• 16:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Tall with wild gray hair, he had served in the Marine Corps and flew during both World War II and the Korean War. His military career ended after he was seriously injured in 1953. John lost the lower portion of his leg and wore a prosthetic for the rest of his life, but it didn't slow him down. After he and his wife Dee moved from California to Idaho in 1970, they became avid skiers, and people who met John were often surprised to learn that he even had a prosthetic leg because of how active and agile he was. He was also a highly decorated veteran who had already experienced considerable loss in his life. His older brother had been killed during World War II, and years later, John's son Bruce died in a hang gliding accident.

• 17:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  The aircraft Whitney and John would be flying that morning was a Douglas DC-3 C-47, one of the most recognizable transport aircrafts of the 20th century. Originally developed as a passenger plane in the 1930s, the DC-3 was adapted into the military C-47 during World War II, where thousands were used to transport troops, cargo, and supplies. After the war, many of those aircrafts found second lives in the civilian service, including the US Forest Service. Forest Service crews affectionately called them Doug's, and by 1979, they had been using the aircraft for years. The planes were well-suited to the Forest Service work because they could carry substantial

• 17:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  loads of people and equipment into relatively remote areas, and their rugged design made them useful for operations throughout the Mountain West. Whitey himself had spent years flying Doug's on assignment for the Forest Service. Originally, there were supposed to be closer to 20 people aboard the flight that morning, but by June 11th, the group had been cut nearly in half. District Ranger Art Siemens and his family had flown into Moose Creek ahead of the others to prepare for the crew's arrival, while several seasonal employees traveling from elsewhere in the country had been delayed getting to Grangefield and would have to catch a later flight. That left just 10 passengers and two dogs making the trip that morning.

• 18:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  With fewer people aboard than expected, the interior of the Doug was left in configuration the Forest Service commonly used when transporting smokejumpers. Rather than arranging the passengers throughout the cabin like you might picture on a commercial flight, the 10 Moose Creekers were seated together along the left side of the aircraft, while their gear and cargo were loaded on the right. Once everyone and everything was aboard, the crew prepared to make the short flight into Moose Creek. The 10 people settling into their seats that morning were a mix of longtime Forest Service employees, seasonal workers and volunteers, some returning to Moose Creek, and others about to experience it for the first time.

• 19:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  The youngest was 17-year-old Bryant Stringham, who had just finished his junior year of high school in nearby Cottonwood. Bryant played football, was active in Boy Scouts, and had grown up camping, hunting, and fishing with his family. Despite his age, this wasn't his first summer at Moose Creek. He had worked there the year before as an assistant station guard, doing whatever needed to be done, from tending the stock and cutting firewood to delivering mail to remote fire lookouts. He had loved it enough to come back for another season, and this time, he had received special permission from Art to bring along his eight-year-old beagle, Beetle. Beetle? Beetle is such a cute name for a beagle.

• 19:56Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it is.

• 19:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  People are so creative with their dog names. I love it.

• 20:02Danielle LaRock?

  I know. I know. I've only named one of my dogs, because Blue came with Blue.

• 20:09Danielle LaRock?

  And yeah, he had been through enough. I wasn't going to change his name. Like you can just stay blue. And then Gator came with Gator. He was just going under Noah as an alias. Okay. I know I said that before, but he was under witness protection for a little, but yeah, his name is Gator and I think it's cute. So I didn't change it, but.

• 20:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Gator is cute and it's fitting, I feel like for him.

• 20:32Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he bites.

• 20:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he bites. And Chaska is a good name. You've only named one dog, but it's a good name.

• 20:39Danielle LaRock?

  It's a meaningful name, you know, like the translation of it is meaningful, but I don't know. Beetle is just so cute, you know, like.

• 20:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Beetle is really cute. This is my dog Beetle.

• 20:50Danielle LaRock?

  And just anything, any animal that's named after another animal, it wins all the time. Like a dog named Duck, you got it. You won.

• 21:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like adorable. Then you have a Halloween costume for life.

• 21:06Danielle LaRock?

  Always a duck.

• 21:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, every year.

• 21:10Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 21:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  This Beagle was probably a beetle for Halloween.

• 21:14Danielle LaRock?

  And it's not a missed opportunity.

• 21:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Super missed opportunity. Okay, jumping back in. There were also several career Forest Service employees aboard. Fifty-nine-year-old Robert Andy Taylor, who went by Andy, was an engineer for the Nez Perce National Forest, who had worked for the US Forest Service for 17 years. He was headed to Moose Creek specifically to repair the ranger's station's broken water system, one of his final assignments before a retirement he had planned in December. He and his wife were looking forward to spending that retirement, road tripping around the country, and their new fifth-wheeler trailer. Ronald Hagan was also an engineer with the Forest Service, while 29-year-old Dawn Easthouse was Art Seaman's resource assistant at Moose Creek

• 22:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  and had been helping him organize the training everyone was flying in to attend. Others were there specifically for the summer season. Patrick McGreevy, 23-year-old Philip Leber, 20-year-old Robert Cook, and 25-year-old Catherine Tyke Hodgson were seasonal Forest employees. Catherine was already a Moose Creek veteran and was heading back into the wilderness to spend the summer staffing the remote Shizler Peak Fire lookout. Traveling with her was her dog Bess, a large German Shepherd retriever mix known for being sweet and calm. 26-year-old Charlie Dietz was a Hellattack firefighter, part of the Forest Service helicopter-based firefighting operation, while 19-year-old Thomas T. Kurtz had come all the way from Michigan to volunteer for the summer.

• 22:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thomas had signed his volunteer agreement that very morning. His assignment would have him working on a wilderness cleanup crew hauling out garbage, removing an old phone line, restoring campsites, and clearing trails. Before beginning that work, he was headed to Moose Creek for a week of training with everyone else. As everyone settled in, Bess seemed completely unfazed by the airplane and stretched out quietly at Catherine's feet. Beetle was another story. Not long after takeoff, the Beagle climbed across Bryant's lap towards the window on the opposite side of the plane. Bryant pulled him back, but Beetle wouldn't settle down. He remained alert, staring across the cabin and repeatedly cocking his head towards the engine outside the window.

• 23:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  There was, however, one small irregularity already that morning. When the pilot started the right engine, it took roughly twice the usual number of propeller rotations before it fired. Once it did, the engine appeared to run smoothly. The left engine started without issue, and there was nothing at the time that caused Whitey or John to cancel the flight. So at 9:28 that morning, they had lifted off.

• 23:58Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 24:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  SimpliSafe is built to stop it before it starts by utilizing cameras to watch for potential threats and alert those security specialists who will intervene in under 30 seconds, speaking through the camera to stop an intruder mid-stride while also calling 911. Join the more than 6 million people who entrust SimpliSafe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring when you visit simplisafe.com/NPAD. That's simplisafe.com/NPAD. And when you order, please write National Park After Dark in the checkout survey. It lets them know that we sent you, and it really helps support the show. SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. Last Christmas, Al bought me a record player, and since then, I've gotten really into collecting records. But I also wanted the whole setup to look beautiful in our home.

• 25:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  So when I saw the Jocuna vinyl media unit from Article, I knew exactly where it was going. And when it arrived, I was really impressed with the quality. And it's one of those pieces that's just as functional as it is nice to look at. That's really what Article does so well. They make it easy to create a stylish home with high-quality furniture at a really great price. Their collection includes everything from sofas and sectionals to dining tables, chairs, bedroom furniture, storage, outdoor pieces, and decor, with a lot of mid-century modern coastal and Scandi-inspired designs. And everything is curated to work together, so you can mix and match pieces without feeling like you need to be an interior designer to make your home feel cohesive. If you do want some help, Article even offers free interior design services,

• 26:09Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 26:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  About 20 minutes into the flight, the first sign of trouble appeared in the cockpit. The gauges for the left engine began showing an abnormally high oil temperature and low oil pressure, prompting Whitey and John to shut the engine down and feather its propeller, which is rotating the blades so their thin edges faced into the airflow. This prevented the dead engine's propeller from continuing to spin in the rushing air and creating unnecessary drag. Although losing an engine was obviously concerning, the Doug was capable of continuing to fly on its remaining engine, so at this point, the situation was still manageable. The passengers could tell that something had changed.

• 27:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  With the left engine shut down, the cabin became noticeably quieter, while the ride itself began to feel rougher. Whitey and John came over the intercom to tell everyone that they were experiencing a problem and instructed them to make sure that their seatbelts were fastened. 19-year-old Tom T. Curse, who had been spending part of the flight up near the cockpit with the pilots, returned to his seat besides Bryant, looking pale and frightened. Whatever was happening up front was serious enough that the mood inside the cabin began to change. With the left engine shut down, the right engine was now keeping the aircraft in the air. But within somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds, that engine suffered a catastrophic failure of its number eight cylinder and burst into flames.

• 28:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  From their seats along the left side of the cabin, the passengers were facing the window on the right side of the plane, giving them a horrifying view of what was happening just outside. It was the same side of the aircraft that Beetle had been so fixated on earlier in the flight, and now flames were surrounding the engine and the wing. Before anyone had much time to process what they were seeing, there was an explosive sound as the burning right engine tore away from the wing and fell towards the wilderness below. In less than a minute, the crew had gone from dealing with a problem in one engine to losing both of them. Whitey and John were now trying to keep the entirely powerless DC-3 in the air while flying through the narrow Selway River Canyon.

• 28:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  The Doug continued gliding upstream for approximately three and a half miles after losing the right engine, but it was steadily losing altitude as the pilots followed the river between the steep forested slopes rising on either side of them. For the people inside, those next few minutes must have felt impossibly long. The landscape that had been comfortably below them earlier in the flight was now rising around them as the plane descended deeper and deeper into the river corridor. Trees passed frighteningly close outside the window as Whitey and John continued following the Selway, searching the canyon ahead of them for somewhere they might be able to bring the aircraft down. Back inside the plane, the passengers were preparing for what was becoming increasingly inevitable.

• 29:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Someone called out instructions to remove eyeglasses, cover their faces, hold hands, and open the emergency hatches. Charlie Dietz removed his glasses and tucked them into the front pocket of his overalls before reaching for the person beside him, while Bryant worked to get the rear hatch open before returning to his seat and fastening his seatbelt. Beside Bryant sat Tom, the 19-year-old volunteer, who only minutes earlier had returned from the cockpit frightened by what he had seen. As the powerless Doug continued descending through the canyon, Bryant and Tom reached for one another's hands, while Whitey and John searched the Selway ahead of them for somewhere to land. Whitey and John were likely aiming for Drybar,

• 30:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  an open stretch along the bend in the Selway that offered one of the few places in the canyon where they might have had a chance of landing the aircraft. The Selway River Canyon was only about 400 feet wide in places, while the DC-3 had a wingspan of more than 95 feet, leaving the pilots with very little room to maneuver as they tried to guide the powerless aircraft towards the open stretch of land. Remarkably, they almost made it. Whitey and John had managed to keep the Doug airborne for roughly three and a half miles, but just before they could get there, the left wing struck a large fir tree. The impact sent the aircraft pitching steeply downward towards the Selway River.

• 31:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Inside the cabin, the passengers leaned forward and braced themselves as best they could, many still holding hands with their seatmates as they had been instructed. Charlie, seated beside Catherine, pulled his seatbelt as tight as he could. Around him, some passengers bowed their head, while others whispered prayers out loud. Charlie's thoughts went to his wife, Julie, as he prepared himself to die.

• 31:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Seconds later, the 148Z slammed into the river. For 17-year-old Bryant Stringham, everything went dark. In the moments after the impact, Bryant found himself sitting upright in the seat with his seatbelt fastened around him. The cabin, that had been filled with noise only moments earlier, was now unnervingly quiet, but another sound soon took its place. The Selway River rushing around and through the wreckage. It was early June when snowmelt and spring runoff left the river running high, fast, and dangerously cold. Bryant began trying to understand what was around him. Several of the other passengers were still strapped into their seats nearby, but he couldn't see anyone moving.

• 32:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Loose gear that had been packed aboard for the summer was now floating through the wreckage and sloshing around the cabin as water poured inside. That's when Bryant realized that the plane was actually still moving. The current had caught the wreckage and was carrying it downstream, and with every passing moment, more water entered the cabin. Bryant was still holding Tom's hand, but Tom wasn't moving. As water rose around them, his body began sinking lower beneath the surface while Bryant struggled to release his own seatbelt. Somehow, remarkably, his dog Beetle was still there with him. The little beagle had survived the crash and was on Bryant's lap as the water continued to rise around them.

• 33:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bryant didn't know whether he was going to be able to get himself out, but he knew Beetle needed to get out of the flooding aircraft. As an effort to save his life, he quickly pushed his dog through a small opening in the wreckage, giving Beetle at least a chance of escaping the plane. The current immediately carried him away from him and out of sight. Bryant had no way of knowing whether his dog would survive the freezing, fast-moving river, or whether that would be the last time he ever saw him. The water continued climbing inside the cabin, steadily shrinking the pocket of breathable air around Bryant as he fought to undo his seatbelt. Eventually, he managed to free himself and make his way out of the wreckage into the river.

• 33:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  The force of the current immediately swept Bryant underwater and pinned him against the river bottom. He swam for his life in the rushing Selway with plane debris swirling around him, threatening to impale him or drag him under even farther. At one point, the undertow was so strong Bryant thought he would surely die at the bottom of the river before he managed to kick himself free. As the river pulled him further down, he managed to grab at some boulders near the side of the river and hauled himself out of the freezing cold water. Once Bryant caught his breath and got his bearings, he looked upstream and saw Charlie standing on a rock and waving at him. Charlie had somehow survived the crash too, and he wasn't alone.

• 34:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Charlie had no memory of actually escaping the wreckage. The last thing he could remember was being inside the plane as it descended towards the Selway. The next thing he knew, he was swimming and gasping for air in the deep icy water. While fighting the current, he spotted a large backpack floating nearby and grabbed onto it for flotation. That's when he saw Andy about 10 feet away in the river and yelled for him to grab onto the pack. As a former football player, Charlie was a big, broad-shouldered man, and he used all his strength he had to fight the current and got both himself and Andy towards shore. So by the time Bryant spotted Charlie waving to him from the rock, three of the 12 people who had been aboard the 148Z had made it out of the wreckage alive.

• 35:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  When Charlie got out of the river, he pulled his eyeglasses, still intact, from the front pocket of his denim overalls. Charlie, who had been sitting next to Catherine on a plane, didn't see her anywhere. As Bryant approached Charlie on the riverbank, he saw Andy lying along the shoreline, still partially in the water. Together, they both pulled him up completely on shore, but it was immediately clear that Andy was badly injured. He was fading in and out of consciousness, one of his legs had been severely mangled in the crash, and the extent of his other injuries made them worry that he could be bleeding internally. Bryant and Charlie did what they could for him with the limited first aid knowledge and supplies that they had.

• 36:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Because Andy's injured leg was badly damaged and needed to be kept from moving, they improvised a splint to stabilize it and tried to keep Andy as still as possible. Andy was extremely thirsty, but because of the severity of his injuries, they were afraid to give him water. Instead, they wet a rag for him to suck on while they tried to figure out how they were going to get help. Once Andy was as stable as Bryant and Charlie could make him, Bryant looked across the river and noticed another man waving at him from the opposite bank. To his astonishment, this wasn't another passenger from the plane. By sheer luck, they had crashed near the Selway River Trail, where a hiker had been close enough to witness the plane coming down and was now trying to get their attention.

• 36:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  The Selway River Trail followed the river for dozens of miles, carrying hikers and backpackers deep into a part of Idaho that couldn't be reached by car. People used the trail for both day hikes and multi-day backpacking trips, while Forest Service crews and pack strings also traveled portions of the corridor to reach remote areas along the Selway. In a place where you could travel for miles without encountering another person, having someone on the trail near the crash site at the exact moment was incredibly fortunate. The hiker immediately wanted to help, but there was an enormous obstacle between them. The Selway was running high and fast with the spring runoff, and after what Bryant had just experienced in the water, attempting to swim across it was out of the question.

• 37:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Instead, Bryant and the hiker began walking upstream on opposite banks, keeping pace with one another until they reached a point where they could make out at least some of what the other was shouting over the roar of the river. The hiker managed to communicate that there was a bridge a few miles upstream and that he would meet Bryant there. Bryant knew the bridge he was talking about, Three Links Bridge, a foot-and-pack bridge spanning the Selway. Knowing where the bridge was helped Bryant finally orient to himself within the canyon, and more importantly, it gave him a way to reach the person at the opposite side of the bank without swimming across the river. Bryant ran back to Charlie and Andy. Charlie's leg was now incredibly swollen, and Bryant feared it might be broken.

• 38:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  And the two men were in rough shape sitting on the shore, bruised and bloody, mostly immobile, with Andy slipping in and out of consciousness. Bryant asked Charlie if he wanted him to stay there with him, or if he could try to meet up with the hiker upriver and get some help. Charlie told Bryant to go while he stayed with Andy. So he grabbed some extra clothing and a sleeping bag that had washed up from the river and laid them out to dry for both Charlie and Andy, promising to be back soon for help. He didn't take any supplies with him, convinced that he was mostly fine and the other men would need it more than he would.

• 38:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  After he left, he bushwhacked through vegetation, scrambled over rocks, and worked his way along the river, knowing only that if he kept heading upstream, eventually he should reach the bridge. After several miles, Three Links Bridge finally came into view. The hiker was there waiting for him, just as he had promised, but he wasn't alone. Standing there with him was Beetle.

• 39:18Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, I'm like, I've been holding my breath this whole time.

• 39:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, not Beetle.

• 39:25Danielle LaRock?

  I can't take this right now?

• 39:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  I know. Somehow, the little beagle had made it safely out of the Selway and found the hiker, apparently without any serious injuries. Bryant, of course, had no idea if he was still alive, and after everything that had happened that morning, seeing Beetle waiting for him at the bridge was an overwhelming relief. The two were reunited, and from there, Beetle stayed by Bryant's side as they continued to search for help. The hiker who he met there, I'm like, the dog, but this hiker that he's meeting.

• 39:58Danielle LaRock?

  There's also a person, yeah.

• 39:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  There's also a person, was named Alan Greenleaf, and remarkably, his connection to this story had actually begun before the 148Z had ever left Grangefield. Alan had met Charlie prior to setting out on his backpacking trip. He had originally planned a longer solo journey through the wilderness, but after injuring his Achilles, he needed to find something shorter and less strenuous. At the Selway Falls Guard Station, Charlie was actually the person to help him choose an easier route that would take him along the Selway River instead, and it was that change of plans that put Alan at the river at this time on June 11th.

• 40:41Danielle LaRock?

  I think that's incredible, but you know that I am of the mindset that the universe works in mysterious ways.

• 40:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I agree. There, I feel like this moment, someone was looking out for both of them, you know? And especially for Charlie. That morning, Alan had been hiking the route when he noticed an airplane flying shockingly low through the canyon. He watched it disappear around a bend in the river and moments later heard what sounded like explosions. Then pieces of the aircraft began floating past him in the river. Realizing that the plane had gone down somewhere nearby, Alan began making his way along the riverbank, looking for the survivors, until he eventually spotted Bryant, Charlie, and Andy on the opposite side. After getting Bryant's attention and directing him towards the bridge and then him finding

• 41:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  his own way there himself, along the way to the bridge, he came across Beetle, who then followed him to Bryant, and they were reunited.

• 41:44Danielle LaRock?

  Such a good dog. I don't think, I feel like Chaska would definitely do that. Blue definitely would have. Gator, no. Garrett been like, I live here now and I'm not, he's not going to trust anybody. He would just run away.

• 41:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  He wouldn't go up to anybody.

• 41:59Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 42:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Yeah, I think Amber and Tucker would both, I think Amber would be more fearful than Tucker of like the whole situation, but I think she would seek out people.

• 42:11Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 42:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  For help, and I know Tucker would. Tucker definitely would.

• 42:16Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, help me.

• 42:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  He'd just be like looking for, yeah, just like looking for your people. With a thermos of lemonade from Alan and Beetle finally back by his side, Bryant started towards Moose Creek. But now that he was out of the river and had a clear path forward, the adrenaline that had carried him through the last few hours began to wear off and Bryant started to realize just how badly he was hurt. His clothes had been ripped to shreds. A massive bruise had formed around his waist where his seatbelt had caught him during the crash and the ring finger on his right hand was bleeding heavily and had been nearly torn off. Still, though, with those injuries, he was just had Charlie and Andy top of mind and he knew that he had to keep moving.

• 42:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Alan helped orient him before they set out on the roughly eight mile journey upriver from Three Links Bridge to Moose Creek. At least, though, for Bryant, this part of the trip would be somewhat easier to navigate. He was now on a more established trail rather than bushwhacking through the riverbanks and scrambling over rocks. Bryant made it roughly six of those eight miles before he finally saw people coming towards him on the trail. They were Emil and Penny Keck, longtime Moose Creekers who had already heard fragments of information over the radio that something had happened down river. With few details to go on, the Kecks and the other Moose Creekers had gathered horses and supplies and headed down the trail to search for the plane and anyone who might

• 43:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  have survived. Finding Bryant alive was the first real answer that they had. The Kecks immediately wanted to know whether anyone else had survived, but Bryant could only tell them what he knew, that Charlie and Andy were alive when he left them downstream, but he had no idea what had happened to anyone else on board. Emil and Penny had brought a horse named Trigger and they gave him to Bryant for the remaining miles to Moose Creek. Bryant climbed aboard with Beetle and continued towards the ranger station, while the Kecks kept heading in the opposite direction down river towards Charlie, Andy, and the wreckage. When Bryant, Beetle, and Trigger were finally approaching the Moose Creek Ranger Station,

• 44:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  waiting there was District Ranger Art Siemens, Bryant's boss and the man in charge of the Moose Creek Ranger District, which I mentioned earlier. He is the one who had flown in a day early and his wife wanted to bake a cake for everyone. By now, Art had begun receiving reports that the plane carrying his staff had gone down somewhere along the river. As Bryant approached the station, he suddenly remembered that his pants had been ripped to shreds during the crash. And in this moment of almost being a little bit embarrassed and not wanting his boss and coworkers to see him in his underwear, Bryant took off his shirt and tied it around his waist and then rode into camp, which I just thought was like.

• 45:07Danielle LaRock?

  Still keeping modesty in mind in a situation like that is.

• 45:13Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, you never know how you're going to react and I think that that's really not far from reality and maybe how I would feel, to be honest.

• 45:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. It's just, when you think about it, it's just like, all of this just happened and then to have the wherewithal to even like think of that or consider it or feel that way.

• 45:33Danielle LaRock?

  Or feel like it's important at all in this type of situation, you know?

• 45:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, like your coworkers and boss would be pretty understanding that you're in your underwear after surviving an actual plane crash. But I kind of agree with you, like if I was in my underwear and I was approaching people, I might be like, does anyone have something to cover me up before?

• 45:55Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 45:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  I, I walk up to my actual boss. If it was you, I wouldn't care.

• 46:02Danielle LaRock?

  But thank you.

• 46:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thanks.

• 46:06Danielle LaRock?

  I'll take that as a compliment.

• 46:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 46:08Danielle LaRock?

  Like, I don't care about that.

• 46:13Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 46:56Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 47:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  So of course he gets there and he starts talking to him. He says the same thing that he had said to the Kecks, that Charlie and Andy were alive downstream, but he has no idea what had happened to everyone else, if other people had made it out of the crash or not. So of course Art starts making calls and he arranges to send Bryant back to Grangefield because he needs medical attention at this point. Unfortunately, to get Bryant back to Grangefield, he had to put him back on a plane.

• 47:48Danielle LaRock?

  Hmm.

• 47:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  So of course he was understandably anxious, but Beetle wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. And of course, because he had to return with Bryant, he had to get on the plane. But according to Bryant, it took three grown men to contain and wrestle Beetle and put him into the plane because he did not want to be there so badly.

• 48:13Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, and it's just heartbreaking because it's like for their own good, but you can't explain that. And I can just imagine him in his mind just being like, were you guys paying attention to what just happened to us? Why are we doing this? Like.

• 48:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, quick question.

• 48:30Danielle LaRock?

  Am I the only one? Just remembers what we just all experienced? Um, yeah, that's tough. That's really, really tough.

• 48:39Danielle LaRock?

  Just trauma for life forever for everyone, but especially to an animal that doesn't have that level of understanding that.

• 48:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 48:49Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 48:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's so sad. I mean, that would be me. Do you have to give me drugs to get me back on that plane?

• 48:55Danielle LaRock?

  And especially because he was the one who was probably like, hey, something's not right here and no one is catching on. He knew, he was the first one to know.

• 49:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he's like, I tried to warn you guys.

• 49:09Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 49:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  At the beginning, and now you want me back on here where you're still not going to listen to me or still are not listening to me.

• 49:16Danielle LaRock?

  It's just not clocking to you.

• 49:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Beetle knows all. Well, while Bryant and a very unwilling Beetle headed back to Grangefield, help was on the way for Andy and Charlie. And not just by the way of the Kecks heading down river towards them, but by now, the 148Z had been reported overdue and the Forest Service had launched a much larger search and rescue operation. A search plane sent from Grangefield picked up the aircraft's emergency locator signal and by around noon, the wreckage had been spotted in the Selway. Meanwhile, a DC-3 carrying 14 rescue-trained smokejumpers had been dispatched from Missoula, Montana. Seven of them were certified EMTs and the group included experienced jumpers like Wayne

• 50:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Williams and Jeff Kinderman, who had recently returned to Missoula after working together on an assignment in New Mexico. Now, for people who might not be aware, smokejumpers are wilderness firefighters specially trained to parachute into remote areas, making them particularly well-suited for reaching a crash site buried deep inside this wilderness that's here. The first two jumped into the canyon to assess the conditions below and once they determined that others could safely follow, the remaining 12 parachuted in. As the smokejumpers began making their way through the canyon towards Charlie and Andy, one of them, Wayne Williams, noticed something struggling in the river and noticed that it was a dog. Bess.

• 50:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wayne made his way into the water and pulled the animal to shore where he realized this dog had just survived the same plane crash they had been sent in to respond to. It was Bess, Catherine's German Shepherd Retriever mix, who had been lying calmly at her feet when the 187Z took off that morning. Somehow, Bess had survived the impact and escaped the wreckage, but unlike Beetle, she hadn't come through uninjured. One of her legs was fractured, so after Wayne pulled her from the river, he carried her to a small clearing, laid out a blanket, and did what he could to make her comfortable. With Bess safely out of the water, the smokejumpers continued towards Charlie and Andy.

• 51:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  When they arrived, Charlie insisted that he was okay, but Andy was clearly in much more serious condition. The first smokejumpers to reach them were particularly well-equipped to assess just how badly he was hurt. Both were certified EMTs, first aid instructors for new smokejumpers, and former military medics. Their examinations found that Andy's blood pressure was dangerously low, a sign that he was in severe shock. Along with his badly injured leg, he had lacerations around his shoulders and significant bruising across his back and abdomen. Although he was still coherent and able to respond to them, his condition was deteriorating quickly. The smokejumpers immediately began trying to stabilize him.

• 52:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  They placed Andy in masked pants or military anti-shock trousers and inflatable medical garment that wrapped around his legs and abdomen and was used at the time in an attempt to raise dangerously low blood pressure in severely injured patients. Andy needed much more medical care than they could provide on the riverbank, though, so the priority became getting him out of the canyon as quickly as possible.

• 52:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  For the next hour, the two smokejumpers did everything they could to stabilize Andy on the riverbank, monitoring him and treating his injuries while hoping they could keep him alive long enough to get him out of the canyon. But despite their efforts, his condition continued to deteriorate until they could no longer find a pulse. They immediately began CPR, taking turns performing chest compressions and inserting an airway to help him breathe. For another 35 minutes, they continued trying to resuscitate him, but Andy never regained a pulse. About an hour and a half after the smokejumpers reached him, Andy Taylor died from his injuries.

• 53:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  After watching Andy die, Charlie became more visibly distressed, showing signs of panic and hyperventilating as his own adrenaline started to wear off. Even though his vitals were stable, he desperately needed to get out of the woods and get proper medical attention, so the smokejumper team and the Army National Guard began coordinating to get Charlie airlifted out, which was no small feat in the narrow river canyon, as we know. The hoist maneuver from the helicopter was deemed too risky since the main rotor and tail rotor were so close to the snags on the side of the river that a single gust of wind could blow either rotor into a tree and kill everyone onboard.

• 54:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Ultimately, they were able to lift Charlie in a Stokes litter basket, a metal cage stretcher, and he was flown to the nearest hospital for a quick evaluation before being sent to the Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Now that Charlie had been taken to safety, the rescue operation changed their focus to getting Andy's body out of the woods and looking for any other survivors. The smokejumpers flagged down a group of rafting guides running the river in a preseason training trip, and they set up a basic home base at Drybar, the stretch of the sandbar in the river that Whitey and John were aiming for before the plane ultimately hit the tree. The raft crew also helped move Catherine's dog, Bess, to Drybar, where the rescue team was setting up camp for the night.

• 54:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bess had survived with a broken leg, badly lacerated paws, and when she was lifted out of the raft, she was clearly in a tremendous amount of pain. A few people there wondered whether her injuries were so severe that the most humane thing would be to put her down. But one of the smokejumpers, Bill, wasn't willing to give up on her. He scooped Bess out of the raft and carried her to the upper end of the sandbar where the crew had stashed their gear. There, the jumpers wrapped her in blankets and built a small fire to keep her warm and comfortable for the night. One of the men who stayed with her was Wayne Williams, who is a member of the smokejumper team that I mentioned earlier. Wayne spent that first night of the crash site camp beside Bess, keeping an eye on

• 55:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  her while the rescue and recovery operation continued around them. With helicopter crews in the air, rafters and divers on the water, and smokejumpers and Forest Service employees on the ground, they were all now making their way through the river, focusing on trying to recover or find any survivors, and locate as much as the 148Z as possible so investigators could eventually determine what had caused the crash. And of course, this was an enormous undertaking. The Selway had torn the aircraft apart and carried pieces of the wreckage as far as six miles downstream, scattering parts of the plane, its cargo, and the victims throughout the river corridor.

• 56:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  The Forest Service coordinated the operation, but their response quickly grew beyond the people who had initially been sent into the canyon. Employees from other Forest Service districts joined Moose Creek staff, volunteers came in to help, and when the original smokejumper team was told to return to Missoula, Wayne Williams and four others volunteered to stay behind. Wayne remained around Moose Creek for about a week, first helping recover pieces of the aircraft, and then helping search for and recover the people who had been killed. At times, nearly 20 people involved in the operation were camped together at Drybar each night. And because there were no roads into the crash site, nearly everything they needed

• 56:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  had to come in by aircraft, horsebacked raft, or on foot. The search and recovery would continue for more than a month, until July 14th, when every victim had finally been accounted for. Recovering the aircraft took even longer, extending into the following season. Finding the victims presented another challenge because several had been carried underwater and into deep pools and eddies along the Selway. A volunteer dive team joined the operation, working with crews, searching from the air, and people moving along the riverbanks. Two days after the crash, on June 13th, divers recovered four people from a deep pool near

• 57:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  the rapids: co-pilot John Slingerland, Dawn Easthouse, Bryant's seatmate Tom Tukers, and Ron Hagan. Hours later, farther upriver, Catherine Hodgins was also recovered. Four people were still missing. On June 15th, searchers found Patrick McGreevy and another deep eddy. Two days later, on June 17th, divers returned to the same area and recovered Kevin Lieber and Bob Cook. Both men were still buckled into their seats, which had become deeply embedded in the sand beneath the river. The conditions of the victims also helped investigators understand what had happened inside the plane during impact.

• 58:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Idaho County Coroner Kathy Gibbs performed autopsies on pilots Whitey and John. Although the other victims were not autopsied, the available evidence led her to believe that they had died from the tremendous injuries sustained during the crash rather than drowning afterwards. There were no apparent signs that they had struggled to escape the wreckage. The rescue teams eventually recovered both engines from the Selway, giving investigators a chance to determine what had gone so catastrophically wrong. Because the 148Z was a government aircraft, the investigation was handled internally rather than through the NTSB process, and within nine weeks, investigators had compiled

• 59:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  an enormous 872-page report using eyewitness accounts, maintenance records, physical evidence from the wreckage, and a reconstruction of the flight's final minutes. One early theory focused on Whitey's autopsy, which showed elevated alcohol levels in his organs and led to speculation in the press that he had been drinking. Investigators quickly rejected that idea. Whitey's body had remained in the river for 33 days before he was found, and decomposition and bacterial activity can produce alcohol after death. There was no evidence that either pilot had been impaired.

• 59:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  In fact, investigators praised Whitey and John's actions during the emergency. One aviation safety officer wrote, "The fact that these pilots were able to maintain control of the aircraft considering the magnitude of the problems being encountered speaks highly of their skill," adding that "any survivors at all in a crash like this was miraculous." Instead, the investigation pointed towards something far more systemic: improper engine maintenance and inadequate record-keeping. Maintenance logs were incomplete or missing, and investigators discovered serious problems with the right engine, which had already exceeded its recommended 1,000-hour operating limit.

• 1:00:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  The number eight cylinder, the same cylinder that catastrophically failed during the flight, had multiple broken or missing bolts and loose or missing nuts. Eventually, investigators ultimately concluded that proper inspection and maintenance of either engine could have prevented this crash. The findings exposed broader failures within the Forest Service Region 4 Aviation Program and led to changes in maintenance and aviation safety. The accident also came at a time when the Forest Service was already debating whether to replace its aging C-47 DC-3 fleet with newer aircrafts, a transition that had been delayed in part because of cost. Because of the engine's failure due to maintenance neglect, the families of the victims and

• 1:01:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  survivors of the 148Z had legitimate legal claims against the parties responsible for the plane maintenance, seeking justice and settlement funds and the absence of any possibilities of bringing their loved ones back. Whitey's widow, Leona, filed a $1.7 million lawsuit against the outside companies responsible for the DC-3 maintenance, arguing that they were negligent. While both Charlie and Bryant wanted to move on with their lives, the victims' families ultimately convinced them both to join the lawsuit, and their testimony became instrumental in securing settlements for the victims' families. The litigation was complex, and much of it is not public record, so we don't fully know

• 1:01:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  who was held responsible and who got paid what amounts in court. The traumatic aftershocks rippled well beyond the survivors and families of the victims. Moose Creek District Ranger Art Siemens blamed himself, although he was clearly not to blame, because he was supposed to be on that flight, and he had immense survivors' guilt and wondered if things would have been different if he had been there. He left Moose Creek for good in 1980, though he continued to work for the US Forest Service, and his daughter said what happened there that summer continued to haunt Art for the rest of his life. The Moose Creek Ranger District eventually got absorbed into the Selway Ranger District in 1995, so Moose Creek as it was no longer exists.

• 1:02:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  Moose Creekers from the 1960s to 1990s were disappointed by this choice, saying it forced the integrity of the wilderness to take a backseat for other use cases, diluting the only true wilderness Ranger District in the country. Art and a University of Idaho professor helped establish a Selway bitterroot memorial scholarship fund in memory of the victims, especially Kevin Lepper, who was a third-year student at the university studying wildland recreation management. Given annually to a particularly dedicated wildland recreation management student at the university, the scholarship has helped nearly 50 students fund their education since its inception. Many parents, siblings, and spouses of the crash victims made their own pilgrimages

• 1:03:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  to the Selway river and the site of the crash, as well as a memorial plaque dedicated to the passengers of the 148Z that's affixed to a granite boulder outside the Moose Creek Ranger Station. After getting out of the hospital, Bryant had spent a restless week in his parents' house before heading back to Moose Creek for the summer, where he actually worked for the remainder of the season before returning to high school in the fall and graduating with the class of 1980. Beetle came with him to Moose Creek for the rest of 1979's summer season as well, and as well as the 1980 summer season, though he remained less than thrilled about the prospect of getting in another plane. After that, Bryant went off to college for a year before pausing his studies to

• 1:04:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  serve on an LDS missionary assignment in England. Charlie was released from the hospital in Spokane only a day after the crash because they couldn't find anything majorly wrong. His wife Julie was not pleased with that assessment, saying, "What do you mean? There's nothing wrong. He fell out of the sky. Help him." Sure enough, Charlie was quickly readmitted within 24 hours of being discharged when he experienced traumatic kidney failure due to the intense stress on his body from the crash, and the problem eventually resolved, and he didn't need dialysis or anything like that. He also needed surgery to repair ligament tears in his left knee. He was put in a cast and had to stay nearby in Spokane for a few weeks for post-op assessments and evaluations.

• 1:04:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  In July, he was finally cleared and immediately wanted to go back to Moose Creek, where he finished out the season with Bryant and the others. Bess also survived and was airlifted out of the wilderness, thanks to the care of the smokejumpers Bill and Wayne, who took care of her and built her that little tent and fire before they could bring her to medical attention. Back in Grangefield, Catherine's ex-husband Dan, who previously lived with Catherine and Bess and already knew and loved her, was waiting for her. He officially adopted Bess, and she lived out the rest of her life with him. All the Moose Creek employees agree that Moose Creek was the best place for them to process and heal from the traumatic events of June 11th, surrounded by their close-knit

• 1:05:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  family of coworkers and doing hard manual labor to take their minds off of what had happened. Richard H. Holm Jr. published his book that I mentioned at the beginning of this story in 2025, after eight years of investigating, talking with survivors, witnesses, and rescuers, and weaving together all of the different stories and pieces, and took more complete account of what actually happened. While Holm Jr. became interested in the subject because of his interest in aviation and plane crashes specifically, he's a commercial pilot, outdoor enthusiast, and Idaho history buff, he became even more invested when he began to learn the stories of the crash victims.

• 1:06:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  For some, the book offered answers to unanswered questions and closure they didn't realize they needed. Smokejumper Wayne Williams never knew what had happened to Bess and if she had survived until he read "In Selway Shadows" that came out last year.

• 1:06:33Danielle LaRock?

  Whoa. All of that time.

• 1:06:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  And never knew.

• 1:06:38Danielle LaRock?

  That's such a, I was expecting this book to be, you know, maybe released in the 90s, early 2000s. 2025 is so recent.

• 1:06:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:47Danielle LaRock?

  I'm so glad to hear that, you know, that it's just, it's still relevant, you know, and it's still very much affects so many different people who are very much alive and well today, and that's just been such a huge part of their life, and to hear that it's still being discussed and talked about and investigated is, is nice, you know, because for as big of a tragedy as this is, for those who survived this incident and the family and friends of the victims, it's kind of relieving to know that it's still on the minds of others, and it's not just like this private thing that you're going to struggle with your whole life, you know?

• 1:07:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  That people haven't forgotten that this is still important and still recognizing that this really happened and people lost their lives, and I think it's incredible to hear of people who, who did survive this going back, and this was such a special place, and, and going back and completing their season.

• 1:07:49Danielle LaRock?

  Finishing out a season after that?

• 1:07:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:52Danielle LaRock?

  All the, I mean, commend you for that, and I can understand the reasons that they gave, you know, that's a place of healing, they wanted to be there, and-

• 1:08:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Kind of like get back on the horse, or never get back on the horse, kind of thing.

• 1:08:04Danielle LaRock?

  I guess so. Yeah.

• 1:08:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, so that's my story of-

• 1:08:08Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:08:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  The worst aviation disaster in US Forest Service history.

• 1:08:13Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, my gosh. Well, thank you for telling it, and thank you to Molly for recommending the story, because I was totally gripped. There was a couple of times I'm like, "Say something, Danielle. You're, you're on air. Say something."

• 1:08:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  But it's okay, I was on a roll too. I was, the air was just, there was so much happening, and I mean, if people are interested in the book, there's way more information that is in the book, obviously, than we can put in a podcast, and there's just a lot of people and elements that were involved in making, in saving the people that needed to be rescued and, and everything that went into the investigation with the aircraft as well.

• 1:08:55Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, well, um, remember when I said, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm correcting myself, I did the very first plane crash story of this entire show.

• 1:09:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Which was, what was that?

• 1:09:07Danielle LaRock?

  The Mount Rainier one.

• 1:09:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah, you're so right.

• 1:09:11Danielle LaRock?

  It hit me like halfway through-

• 1:09:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  You started this.

• 1:09:14Danielle LaRock?

  I started it, yeah. That one was tough, too.

• 1:09:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  That was-

• 1:09:19Danielle LaRock?

  I actually had a dream this year that has stuck with me. It kind of felt like the energy of a visitation dream, but different. And it's really, it sounds scary, and it was scary, but it actually has brought me a lot of peace in a really weird way. So I never dream about plane, like, I don't have the fear that you have or anything like that. I don't stress about air travel, but for whatever reason, I had this super vivid dream. It's like I can almost feel like part of me was actually there, and I was in this plane, and I was in the middle row, you know, one of those giant planes that has two seats,

• 1:10:04Danielle LaRock?

  an aisle, three seats, an aisle, and then two seats, like big international flights? And I was in the middle row, way up front, not first class or anything, but, um, up front.

• 1:10:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not even in our dreams.

• 1:10:17Danielle LaRock?

  Nope. Um, and all of a sudden, something started to happen on the plane, like it was going down, and I remember just feeling this visceral panic, and I think I was alone because I remember turning behind me to talk to the people who were sitting, seated behind me, and just being like, "Oh, my God, oh, my God, we're all, we're gonna die," type of thing. And I just remember feeling so panicked and like fear, like I've never felt in my life. And then all of a sudden, as I was freaking out to the people behind me, I had this realization,

• 1:10:59Danielle LaRock?

  and it makes me want to cry, but I had this realization that like, I am accepting that I am, my life is about to end, but I have so much to look forward to because I know I'm about to see Ian and my dad. And I was like, I remember just like having that realization mid freakout, and then just being like, "Okay." And I turned back around and I faced forward, and like, that was it.

• 1:11:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, I'm ready.

• 1:11:25Danielle LaRock?

  And I had the most sense of peace wash over me I've never felt in my whole life, and I know it was a dream, but it was just like something-

• 1:11:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  Makes me not want to be on an airplane with you if this is your-

• 1:11:40Danielle LaRock?

  I don't think it's my fate or anything.

• 1:11:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  If you're seeing your fate, yeah.

• 1:11:44Danielle LaRock?

  It didn't feel like a premonition type thing, it just felt more of like a reassurance that there's nothing to be afraid of type of thing.

• 1:11:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  In death.

• 1:11:53Danielle LaRock?

  In death, I think the plane crash was just like the, the mechanism in which that lesson was being taught to me in this way. So don't be afraid, because we have to travel like forever, still, together. But, um, yeah, I don't know, so that, uh, it happened a few months ago, and it's just something that has like changed my life, kind of.

• 1:12:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow, you've never told.

• 1:12:19Danielle LaRock?

  I know. It was very profound, but, um-

• 1:12:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  It feels like it. I do think that dreams have a really special place in our, like, spiritual well-being, and I think that there are a lot of messages that can come through to us in our dreams.

• 1:12:34Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Yeah. Oy, okay, well, uh, very well-told story. Thank you for sharing it. We will be adding the book to our website of book recommendations. I think we're up to like, because I update it every time we do an episode, that references a book as a source. And I think we're, we're getting up there. We're well over 50 at this point.

• 1:13:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Cool.

• 1:13:02Danielle LaRock?

  Um, so if you're ever looking for book recs that have direct ties to National Park After Dark episodes, they are listed there, and we'll see everyone next week.

• 1:13:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, in the meantime, enjoy the view.

• 1:13:15Danielle LaRock?

  But watch your back.

• 1:13:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye, everyone.

• 1:13:18Danielle LaRock?

  Bye.

• 1:13:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thanks for joining us for another episode. We hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more NPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark. For more stories just like this one, with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel, and if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.

• 1:13:57Danielle LaRock?

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