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.

Episode Partners 

Sources

Book:

• In Selway Shadows: Last Flight of 148Z by Richard H. Holm, Jr.

Articles:

• https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/article306235781.html

• • https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/sbw/items/sbw328.html

  • https://selwaybitterrootproject.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/the-1979-crash/

  • https://www.baaa-acro.com/city/moose-creek  

  • https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-41893/  

  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/394825877/?match=1&terms=selway%20plane%20crash

  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/1115857344/?match=1&terms=selway%20plane%20crash  

  • https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/idaho/lower-selway-river--2  

  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/913752727/?match=2&terms=whitey%20hachmeister&search-id=d1498e43-7df7-433d-841c-45c2bd496f02&search-rank=4  

  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/1070490603/?match=3&terms=whitey%20hachmeister&search-id=d1498e43-7df7-433d-841c-45c2bd496f02&search-rank=9  

  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/913745409/  

  • https://ppolinks.com/forestservicemuseum/2019_5_18_Memorial.pdf 

  • https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/nezperce-clearwater/recreation/selway-river-corridor