The airplane, operated by the Civil Air Patrol as CAPS flight 4940, was destroyed when it impacted terrain and caught fire at approximately 1700 mountain time. Marginal visual conditions prevailed. The commercial pilot and two non-pilot observers were fatally injured. The flight was engaged in a search and rescue mission for a missing hiker. At 1756, search and rescue teams located the hiker and, at approximately the same time, a forest fire was discovered. After several water drops were made on the fire, the accident airplanes wreckage was discovered. Significant portions of the wreckage were melted and partially consumed by fire. Portions of the right wing were located just to the west of the main wreckage and exhibited extensive exposure to heat and fire. The airplanes engine had separated from the fuselage and came to rest approximately 100 feet downhill (east) of the main wreckage. It exhibited no apparent fire damage.
