8/21/2009
Pilot found deceased in wreckage of motorglider in central Idaho
ARCO, Idaho -- Thierry Thys, 78, an experienced pilot from Oakland, Calif., was found deceased in the wreckage of his motorglider aircraft on a mountainside in central Idaho this morning.
He apparently died on impact when his 1998 Stemme S10-VT crashed on the northeast face of the White Knob Mountain Range at an elevation of about 9,250 feet.
A Custer County Search and Rescue team reached the crash site at about 11:21 a.m. today. The attending coroner pronounced Thys deceased.
Debris was spotted at about 7:50 p.m. Thursday by one of four Civil Air Patrol crews that had been searching grids most of the day in central Idaho. The crash site is about six miles north of Copper Basin and six miles west/southwest of Mackay.
The Idaho Air National Guard dispatched a helicopter to Arco this morning where it picked up and transported the Custer County Search and Rescue team to the site.
CAP planes had searched the area earlier Thursday but were unable to see the wreckage. They discovered the remains of a fuselage, detached wings and electrical panel shortly before they planned to suspend the search Thursday evening.
The downed aircraft is a sophisticated, high-performance glider that has a 75-foot wingspan and an engine-driven propeller that folds into the nose once gliding altitude is reached. Manufactured in Germany, the two-seated plane is capable of operating at altitudes up to 30,000 feet.
Thys was a veteran pilot who had extensive experience in a variety of aircraft, including experimental planes and helicopters. He was part of a group of glider pilots who assembled north of Arco.
The Oakland resident reportedly held the distance record for glider planes. In 2003, Thys and a friend flew in a motorized glider from Carson City, Nev., to the southern tip of South America and back to Nevada. During the previous summer, the two flew from Carson City to Point Barrow, Alaska, and back to Nevada.
A decade ago he flew a helicopter that he purchased in Russia across Siberia to Alaska.
Companions reported Thys missing Wednesday afternoon when he failed to return from a gliding excursion. The Idaho Transportation Departments Division of Aeronautics was notified at about 10 p.m. and initiated the search. CAP planes began searching a 250-square-mile area of Butte and Custer counties at about 8:15 a.m. Thursday.
An investigation of the crash is pending by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.