Cirrus Aircraft has confirmed that Todd Simmons, its president of customer experience, has been injured in a crash at a remote backcountry strip in Idaho. Ben Kowalski, the senior VP for sales and marketing, issued the following statement in response to inquiries from AVweb: “On Thursday 21 JuneTodd Simmons was involved in an aircraft accident while on a personal flight in a Piper Super Cub that he owns. He was flying solo in the aircraft at the time and was the only person involved. Toddis currently recovering at a hospital in Idaho. We arein close contact andsupporting Todd and his familythroughout this process; our thoughts and prayers are with themat this time.”
According to people who have some knowledge of the incident and whose identities have been verified by AVweb, Simmons was landing at Dewey Moore airstrip near Big Creek, Idaho. Simmons crashed on a go-around attempt at the challenging 700-foot strip. He was airlifted from the strip, which is at about 4500 feet.The Dewey Moore strip approach is through a narrow canyon with a river at the threshold and rocks strewn on either side of the runway. Mountain flying guides list it as suitable only for experienced backcountry pilots who have had instruction on the twisting approach to the little patch. The video below illustrates the challenge.
