Oxygen loss tied to sky divers' crash

Federal investigators say that the man piloting a Cessna that crashed near White Pass in 2007, killing nine Snohomish-based sky divers and himself, was likely suffering a severe lack of oxygen.

Phil Kibler, 46, had been flying for more than an hour at altitudes above 14,000 feet — the level where intense hypoxia, an impaired mental state resulting from oxygen loss, is likely to occur, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the crash.

Kibler had been hired to fly a group to a sky-diving "boogie" — a weekend gathering of jumpers near Boise, Idaho.

Kibler, who had worked with several sky-diving companies in the past, flew the group on several jump flights before they headed back to Shelton, Mason County, where the plane was based, on Oct. 7, 2007.

In the report released last month, the NTSB says that Kibler:

• Failed to maintain an adequate airspeed to avoid stalling the Cessna 208-B while above the Cascades.

• Made an "inadequate" weather evaluation before taking off from Star, Idaho, at 5:50 p.m. He flew into dark, turbulent skies and likely entered clouds and icing conditions during the last three minutes of flight.

While Kibler was oxygen deprived, he likely had no idea he was impaired, the NTSB said. After passing over Yakima that evening, the single-engine plane ascended and descended drastically before crashing, possibly in an attempt to find clear weather conditions.

A hunter who was staying at a campground a few hundred yards from the crash site told investigators that around 7:50 p.m. he "heard a loud noise that he thought sounded like a dragster or engine winding out," the NTSB report said. While standing outside his trailer a few minutes later, he saw "a bright white light" and red and green navigation lights moving toward the ground, and the visual spectacle was followed by "a thud," the report said.

Kibler had about 300 hours of experience flying a Cessna 208-B, also known as the Grand Caravan, the NTSB said. As of September 2007, Kibler had logged nearly 2,000 hours as a "pilot-in command."

Interviewed after the crash, Elaine Harvey, co-owner of Skydive Snohomish, called Kibler "a very good pilot." She said she had selected him out of a large pool of applicants hoping to become the school's summertime pilot.

"He always erred on the side of safety," Harvey said in October 2007. "He wouldn't leave the ground if he was concerned at all about weather conditions."

When reached at the Skydive Snohomish office on Friday, Harvey's husband, Tyson Harvey, declined to discuss the crash.

Those killed were Andy Smith, 20, of Lake Stevens; Hollie Rasberry, 24, of Bellingham; Casey Craig, 30, of Bothell; Michelle Barker, 22, of Kirkland; Bryan Jones, 34, of Redmond; Landon Atkin, 20, of Maltby; Jeff Ross, 28, of Snohomish; Ralph Abdo, 27, of Issaquah; Cecil Elsner, 20, of Lake Stevens; and Kibler, of Troy, N.Y.

Relatives for many of the sky divers couldn't be reached for comment on Friday. Relatives of Landon Atkin declined to comment.

In November 2007, the parents of Bryan Jones filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Cessna Caravan was defective and should not have been flying in icy weather.

Daniel and Terrie Jones' suit has been joined with several similar lawsuits alleging the company knew the Caravan was dangerous in icing conditions. According to The Associated Press, the lawsuits are awaiting trial.

Information from The Seattle Times archives is contained in this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com