Once upon a time I was flying an empty Merlin III from Artesia (ATS) NM to ABQ. I was @ 15,000 just about over the Corona VOR and I got into an area of heavy freezing rain. In about 15 seconds the airplane picked up as much ice as I've ever had on an airplane ever. I was quickly unable to maintain airspeed and was forced to descend. Both engines were trying to flame out and I could hear the auto ignition system cycling on and off.

I declared, turned away from high terrain and for a couple of minutes thought that I was going to have to put it down in the desert I was descending at about 1,000 FPM at full power. As fast as it came on I entered an area of warm air and the ice quickly melted off. But it was a stressful few minutes.

Those guys really kept it together and stayed as cool as a guy can in that situation. Can you imagine the stress level in that cockpit. At night in high mountainous terrain! As Ernie said, fate IS the hunter! Those guys were LUCKY!!