Pilot reported trouble before plane crashed

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

The pilot of a small airplane that crashed last month near Mount Charleston requested permission to descend 1,000 feet because of downdrafts shortly before the crash.

The pilot, Robert Lee Byrd, of Parks, Ariz., dropped from 16,000 feet to about 8,800 feet in less than two minutes on Oct. 30 about 3:10 p.m. before the plane crashed into a wooded area about 7,000 feet above sea level, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Byrd, the only person on board at the time of the crash, was killed. He was flying from Flagstaff, Ariz., to Reno.

Within minutes after asking for permission to descend, the Nellis Air Force Base air traffic control and radar facilities lost contact with the plane. The plane was destroyed by the impact and fire from the crash, the report states.

The report does not give any cause for the crash. The investigation into the cause is continuing.

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