MOUNTAIN GREEN — Daleray Madewell, 47, died doing the two things he loved: flying and helping people.
He had been flying 35-year-old Jennifer Sebesta back to Douglas, Wyo., from the Morgan County Airport after she saw her grandmother in Salt Lake City, said Doug McDuff, a friend who knew him for years.
The two were supposed to be back by Thursday evening, but McDuff said he got the news Friday morning that the Cessna 210 piloted by Madewell "had been in a very horrible crash."
A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter touched down Friday at the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office substation, signaling discovery of plane wreckage in a snowy ravine. A sheriff's deputy confirmed the deaths Friday night.
A DPS helicopter picked up a signal from the plane’s emergency beacon Friday morning; the aircraft was found in rugged terrain about nine miles northeast of the Morgan County Airport.
Minutes after sheriff’s office officials announced to reporters gathered at the substation that the plane had been found, search and rescue personnel prepared with snow gear to reach the downed aircraft.
The plane crashed in Cottonwood Canyon and plunged about 250 feet into a ravine, said Morgan County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Lee. Search and rescue personnel slogged through snow and rough terrain to reach the crash site late Friday afternoon.
The plane took off from the Morgan County Airport around 6 p.m. Thursday en route to Wyoming, Lee said. The plane reached Wyoming but for some reason turned around and headed back toward Mountain Green, he said.
McDuff said, as he understands, the plane was in the air for only 20 minutes before the crash.
The Civil Air Patrol used a radar system to try to triangulate the location of the plane Thursday night, said Morgan County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Kevin Edwards.
The sheriff’s office was notified that the plane was overdue about 8 p.m. Thursday and began a search that continued until 4 a.m. Friday. The search resumed a few hours later with assistance from the Department of Public Safety, Lee said.
The cause of the crash has not been determined and will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
McDuff did not know what had gone wrong, either.
He has been with Madewell’s family since news broke that the plane was overdue.
"Initially (it was an) emotional roller coaster for the family, but we didn’t know the final outcome. We were hopeful he had landed somewhere and survived the night," McDuff said.
But at least he is "in a better place with his maker," McDuff said.
Madewell flew small planes for a local chapter of Pilots for Christ, which is made up of volunteer pilots who fly people in need for free. McDuff said the local chapter has never had anything like this happen before.
"I would like to stress two things: There are three families that need continued prayers ... the two families of the deceased and Pilots for Christ," the local chapter’s president Steve Barbour posted on the group’s Facebook page.
"Daleray was a brother."
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