Two Idaho men were killed when their single-engine airplane crashed on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon near Oxbow Sunday morning, April 2.

The pilot, Terry Lee Richards, 43, of Middleton, and his passenger, Caleb Andrew Tennant, 24, also of Middleton, died in the crash, which happened around 9:50 a.m.

Oxbow is on the Snake River about 70 miles east of Baker City.

Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash, who was fishing in the area at the time with Lt. Ryan Downing of the sheriff’s office, saw a plane that “appeared to be in distress,” according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

The plane, a Cirrus SR22, crashed into a hillside about 1,620 feet above the river, said Ashley McClay, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.

The crash site is on a ridge just southwest of Oxbow.

Eyewitness account

Josh Ison of Prineville was with his wife, Sarah, loading their kayaks at a boat ramp on the Oregon side of Oxbow Reservoir about two miles south of Oxbow on Sunday morning.

Josh Ison said the couple had been visiting the hot springs on the Idaho side of the reservoir, and were preparing to leave.

He said he heard the sound of what he believed was an airplane, but he couldn’t see the aircraft.

Ison said the sky was overcast, with clouds obscuring the tops of ridges above the reservoir.

He said it sounded as though the plane’s engine was speeding up and then slowing down. Ison said he heard the plane for several minutes.

Then he heard a series of three to four bangs that sounded like explosions.

Ison said his first thought was that “we were being bombed by a plane. It was like a bombing run in a movie.”

Then, a few seconds later, he saw the plane. It was north of the boat ramp, toward Oxbow.

Ison said the plane “looked like it was going straight down.”

The plane crashed near the top of a narrow ridge that runs between Highway 86 to the west and Oxbow Reservoir to the east.

“There was a fireball, and a huge black cloud of smoke,” he said.

The sequence, including the series of loud bangs, the sight of the airplane and the crash, lasted perhaps 10 seconds, Ison said.

“It happened so fast,” he said.

Ison said the episode was traumatic, leaving his wife crying.

“It was horrible,” he said. “It was very emotional the rest of the day.”

According to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Cirrus SR22, tail number N424SW, was built in 2009 and owned by Prestige Worldwide SR22 LLC of Caldwell.

According to data from the Flight Aware website, the airplane took off from Caldwell around 9:16 a.m. on Sunday and was flying north toward Lewiston, at an altitude of 13,900 feet at 9:49 a.m.

The plane started descending at a rate of 1,400 feet per minute, then, starting at 30 seconds after 9:50 a.m., it descended at a rate of 10,105 feet per minute.

Ison said he talked with other people who told him they saw what they believed as a parachute.

The Cirrus SR22 can be equipped with a “ballistic parachute,” which is designed to allow the entire airplane to land slowly and gently. The FAA record doesn’t list whether N424SW was equipped with the ballistic parachute.

Ash said it appears the parachute fell into the Snake River. It had not been found as of Monday afternoon.

Sheriff was also an eyewitness

Ash said he was in a kayak near the Oxbow Dam when he heard an airplane.

Like Ison, Ash said it sounded to him as though the airplane’s engine sped up, then slowed down.

Then, after perhaps a minute, Ash said he heard a loud bang reminiscent of a car engine backfiring.

Looking west, he saw the airplane in a vertical dive. He didn’t see the plane hit the ground, but there was immediately a plume of smoke.

Although Ash said he had never witnessed a plane crash, he quickly “went into police mode,” scrambling up the hill along with Downing toward the crash site, and calling 911.

Members of the sheriff’s office’s search and rescue team, along with the Pine Valley Rural Fire District and Halfway ambulance, also responded.

Sheriff’s deputy Warren Thompson, along with bystanders and employees from Idaho Power Company, which has a housing complex for employees who operate the company’s Oxbow Dam, helped with the search, according to the press release.

Ash said the sheriff’s office will continue to assist with the federal investigation.

Richards had taken off from the Caldwell Executive Airport Sunday morning, en route to Lewiston, Idaho, which is about 107 air miles north of Oxbow.

Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, wrote in an email to the Herald Monday morning that “it is very early in the investigation and there is not much information available at this time.”

“An NTSB investigator is expected on scene today to begin to document the scene, examine the aircraft, request any air traffic communications, radar data, weather reports and try to contact any witnesses,” Holloway wrote. “Also, the investigator will request maintenance records of the aircraft, and medical records and flight history of the pilot. I do not have ownership information currently.”

Holloway noted that the NTSB doesn’t determine the cause of crashes early in the investigation.

“This is considered the fact gathering phase of the investigation,” he wrote. “A preliminary report may be available in about 10-12 business days. A typical NTSB investigation can take 12-24 months to complete and determine cause.”

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office was assisted on Sunday by the Pine Valley Rural Fire District, Halfway ambulance, Baker Aircraft, Baker County Search and Rescue and the NTSB.

Ash expressed his sincere condolences to Richards’ and Tennant’s family and friends.