By Barbara S. Marx

I received the call late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve. A pilot flying a PA-24-180 southwest of Salt Lake City reported being in IFR conditions and requested assistance. Shortly thereafter, radio and radar contact were lost. A ground search had begun but was hampered due to deteriorating weather conditions in the area. I was told to stand by for an update.

Being a newly appointed, greener-than-green NTSB Investigator-In-Charge (IIC), with a big shiny badge that barely fit in my pocket, it was my turn on duty for what would be my first solo accident investigation. One of the first things an IIC does is access the situation. Was the event an incident or accident? Was there substantial damage to the airplane and/or serious or fatal injuries to anyone on board? I still didn't know.

I hung up the phone with the FAA’s Northwest Mountain Regional Operations Center and immediately called my boss to brief him. “All right, keep me posted and good luck,” he said. Simple as that. Looking back on it years later, he seemed confident. He'd been through it so many times before that the process was familiar, even routine: the pager going off, the return phone call to the FAA, the realization that it was time to act, gathering the troops, collecting the gear, making contact with the local authorities. He didn't flinch.

Subscribe to PilotMag and get the rest of the story.