I am the father of Jeff Salles, the pilot fatally wounded in this crash. I am having a difficult time dealing with the loss of my son at 26 years of age. I know he was doing what he loved, but that doesn't lessen the deep pain his mother and I are feeling all of our waking hours.
I want to know if anyone knows why this plane would go down within 6 seconds of take-off at night when the weather was clear, -3 degrees centigrade, with a very small load. My son was very careful and a very good pilot. He had the company change out the horizon instrument on the leg before this one and it flew fine until he landed in Pellston from Sault St. Marie. The take-off from Pellston was when he never achieved altitude and crashed into the woods.
Also, I saw posts from "Blackwing" who said he was a friend of Jeff. I am interested in contacting him outside of this forum and ask if he would please contact me at
[email protected].