[Porsche-O-Phile]

Black bear and mountain lion chow.

I've done a lot of flights into/out of KMMH. It's a dangerous area on the best of days. In summer, density altitude at the airport is regularly over 10,000'. And the wind is always a direct 90-degree crosswind out of the south. The turbulence up there (and all the way down the Owens Valley) can be gut-churning anytime the wind blowing across the Sierra Nevada gets over 20 knots. As you go further south of the town and airport the prevailing winds tend to shift to more westerly.

There are an awful lot of remote areas up there. I'm certain there are parts of those mountains that have never even seen human footsteps. It's a very bad place to wreck. If the crash didn't kill him, the exposure probably would have before too long (nights can get very cold, even in summer). Lots of bears and coyotes and stuff up there too.

Basic mountain flying - expect downdrafts on the leeward side of mountains and ridges when winds blow across the top. I think he just found out too late. Very sad.