Wyoming

Bad Autopilot May Have Contributed To Wyoming Air Crash That Killed 7

Published

2 years ago

July 29, 2024

Bad Autopilot May Have Contributed To Wyoming Air Crash That Killed 7

A single-engine Pilatus PC-12/47E turboprop airplane that crashed Friday afternoon in northeast Wyoming, killing all seven onboard, reported an equipment malfunction consistent with problems that model of aircraft is known to have, says a longtime pilot and crash investigator.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said in a Saturday statement that preliminary information shows the plane went down after reporting an “autopilot issue during flight.”

The plane left Nebraska about midday Friday and was bound for Billings, Montana. It crashed about 1 p.m. near the Montana border in northern Campbell County.

Among those killed were three members of the Gospel Hall of Fame group The Nelons — co-founder Kelly Nelon Clark and husband Jason Clark, and daughter Amber Nelon Kistler. Also killed were Nathan Kistler, Melodi Hodges and Larry and Melissa Haynie.

That the plane reported an autopilot issue, along with violent pitching up and down before plummeting from an altitude of 26,000 feet, doesn’t surprise Dan Gryder, a pilot who investigates aircraft incidents and crashes. He reports his findings on his popular YouTube channel.

He told Cowboy State Daily he doesn’t know the exact cause of the crash, but based on the information the plane relayed before it went down, reported by Flight Aware, frantic whipping up and down at 300 mph would have caused the plane to break apart.

“Like, when you stick your hand out going down the road,” said Gryder, describing the air’s effect. “It forces your hand up with a lot of force.”

NTSB investigators are on site and will issue a preliminary report in about two weeks, according to agency protocol.

“The aircraft is in a remote location, and once (investigators) gain access, they will begin documenting the scene, examining the aircraft,” Holloway said in the Saturday statement. “The aircraft will then be recovered and taken to a secure facility for further evaluation.”

A Domino Effect

The force the plane could have been under could have started what Gryder called a domino effect of parts breaking off the plane, then more breakage.

Campbell County law enforcement scanner communications Friday afternoon responding to the crash attested to this as well. One agent noted finding plane parts in a larger perimeter than one would expect from just the impact of a crash.

The plane must have been breaking apart while still airborne, the agent said.

Photos of debris scattered over the area published by the Gillette News Record also seem to corroborate Gryder’s hypothesis.

Something may have gone wrong with the autopilot system just before the crash, said Gryder.

The Pilatus is a good plane, he said, but any one of four or five other companies could have manufactured the autopilot system, and he said he does not know which one built the one on this particular plane.

The autopilot is hooked to the elevator pitch trim servo, which moves a tiny tab that controls pitch — especially at high speeds, he said.

That tab can have an “absolutely huge” effect on the plane’s position. Gryder likened it to the power of the nation’s top executive.

“It’s amazing to me that the president of the United States can have that much power, but he does,” he said.

Once the plane starts to break apart, “you’re done,” he said. There’s no way to reverse the inevitable crash at that point.

The fall would have unfolded over about two violent minutes, and Gryder said it’s his opinion everyone on board would have been alive to experience it until impact.

This Pilatus PC-12/47E single-engine aircraft crashed just south of the Montana border in Campbell County, Wyoming, while on its way to Billings, Montana, on July 26, 2024. (Brian Gore / Peachair Aviation Photography)

Jet Fuel

The plane had fueled up in Nebraska shortly before flying over Wyoming. It was probably carrying around 300 gallons of jet fuel when it approached the Wyoming-Montana border, Gryder said.

The jet fuel crashing down into Wyoming’s sage lands helped spark a large fire that Campbell County authorities fought both via air and from the ground.

Firefighters were combatting the last smolders Saturday, the agency reported.

The Race Is Run

The Gaither Management Group, which handles The Nelons, acknowledged the deaths of the members in a statement late Friday.

“One of the best loved Gospel music families in America, The Nelons, were involved in a tragic, fatal plane crash on Friday afternoon on their way to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska,” the statement reads.

Autumn Nelon Streetman, the youngest daughter of Jason and Kelly Nelon Clark, was not on the plane and confirmed their identities in a separate statement.

“Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark,” her statement reads. “We appreciate your continued prayers, love and support as we navigate the coming days.”

The Nelons performed vocally powerful ballads and pop-bluegrass worship songs. Their YouTube profile features such works as a soulful cover of Casting Crowns song “The Only Scars In Heaven” — a song about looking forward to an eternity with loved ones in heaven.

They covered the popular Christian version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in a campfire-side film featuring layered harmonies, and they tackled the folk classic “Gentle On My Mind” with a banjo.

The Nelons have won 10 Gospel Music Association Awards and was inducted into the GMA Hall of Fame in 2016.

Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

Meyer’s Late Score Lifts Wyoming past Air Force – SweetwaterNOW

Published

6 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Meyer’s Late Score Lifts Wyoming past Air Force – SweetwaterNOW

Naz Meyer. Mandatory Credit: Troy Babbitt-UW Media-Athletics

LARAMIE — Nasir Meyer converted a three-point play with 35 seconds remaining to give Wyoming Cowboys men’s basketball the lead for good, and Wyoming held Air Force Falcons men’s basketball scoreless over the final two minutes to secure a 66-62 victory Saturday night.

The win marked the 13th home victory of the season for Wyoming, which improved to 16-13 overall and 7-11 in conference play.

“Air Force deserves all the credit and let’s talk about a team that has every reason not to fight, but thats why they are Air Force and the cadets and I have a lot of respect for them,” Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks said. “They were not going to quit, and I didn’t drive that message home enough and hats off to Air Force because they deserved to win. We snuck away with a win. Adam Harakow showed when we need him and he was massive for us. Simm-Marten was made big plays and Naz was clutch for us late.”

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Wyoming shot 35% from the field and went 7 of 28 from 3-point range, making just two from beyond the arc in the second half. Air Force shot 49% overall and 44% from 3, hitting eight shots from long distance. The Cowboys made 13 of 16 free throws (81%) and scored 22 points off 15 Air Force turnovers while holding a 39-36 edge in rebounding.

Damarion Dennis led Wyoming with 16 points and three assists, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Meyer finished with 14 points and tied a career best with eight rebounds. Adam Harakow added 14 points off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting, his first double-figure scoring game since the first meeting with Air Force. Simm-Marten Saadi had nine points in 13 minutes, and Kiani Saxon grabbed seven rebounds.

Air Force opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 6-0 lead. Meyer scored Wyoming’s first basket, and Leland Walker added a 3-pointer to make it 8-5 with 16 minutes left in the first half.

Wyoming responded with a 9-0 run over nearly four minutes, with Saadi and Harakow each connecting from beyond the arc to give the Cowboys an 11-8 lead with under 14 minutes remaining. Air Force regained a 12-11 advantage as Wyoming went scoreless for more than two minutes.

Harakow’s second 3-pointer pushed the lead to 22-16 with nine minutes left in the half, and Wyoming used a 6-0 run while holding the Falcons without a field goal for more than four minutes to build a 28-18 lead with six minutes remaining. The Cowboys closed the half on a defensive stand, keeping Air Force scoreless for the final two minutes to take a 35-25 lead into the break. Wyoming scored 15 first-half points off turnovers.

The teams traded 3-pointers early in the second half, and Air Force cut the deficit to 40-31 with under 17 minutes left before trimming it to seven 90 seconds later. Walker answered with a 3-pointer to make it 43-33 with 15 minutes to go.

Air Force used a 9-0 run during a stretch in which Wyoming went more than 3 1/2 minutes without a point to pull within one with nine minutes left. The Falcons later tied the game at 51-51 with 5:30 remaining after forcing six straight missed shots.

A pair of free throws by Meyer and a basket from Saadi gave Wyoming a 57-53 lead with under four minutes to play. Air Force answered with three consecutive 3-pointers from Kam Sanders to take a 62-59 lead with two minutes left.

Meyer scored with 90 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one. On the next trip, he converted an and-one to give Wyoming a 64-62 lead with 35 seconds left. The Cowboys added late free throws to close out the 66-62 win.

Sanders led Air Force with 16 points and nine rebounds, going 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Eli Robinson added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Wyoming closes its home schedule Tuesday against Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball at 8 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Cowgirls.

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Wyoming

Wyoming High School Basketball 2A State Tournament 2026

Published

19 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming High School Basketball 2A State Tournament 2026

The 2-time defending champ Tongue River girls, along with both teams from Big Horn will represent Sheridan County in the small school version of March Madness.

Click here to see results from the regional tournaments.

2A Boys:

First Round:

Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)

(#2E) Big Horn vs. (#3W) Shoshoni – Noon

(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Sundance – 1:30pm

(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Wright – 6:30pm

(#1E) Pine Bluffs vs. (#4W) Rocky Mountain – 8pm

Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)

Consolation Round:

Big Horn/Shoshoni loser vs. Thermopolis/Sundance loser – Noon LOSER OUT!

Wyoming Indian/Wright loser vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain loser – 1:30pm LOSER OUT!

Semi-Finals:

Big Horn/Shoshoni winner vs. Thermopolis/Sundance winner – 6:30pm

Wyoming Indian/Wright winner vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain winner – 8pm

Saturday, March 7th:

Friday Noon winner vs. Friday 1:30pm – Noon at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship

Friday 6:30pm loser vs. Friday 8pm loser – 3pm at Natrona County High School 3rd Place

Friday 6:30pm winner vs. Friday 8pm winner – 7pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship

2A Girls:

First Round:

Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)

(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Big Horn – 9am

(#1E) Sundance vs. (#4W) Shoshoni – 10:30am

(#2E) Tongue River vs. (#3W) Greybull – 3:30pm

(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Pine Bluffs – 5pm

Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)

Consolation Round:

Wyoming Indian/Big Horn loser vs. Sundance/Shoshoni loser – 9am LOSER OUT!

Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 10:30am LOSER OUT!

Semi-Finals:

Wyoming Indian/Big Horn winner vs. Sundance/Shoshoni winner – 3:30pm

Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 5pm

Saturday, March 7th:

Friday 9am winner vs. Friday 10:30am winner – 9am at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship

Friday 3:30pm loser vs. Friday 5pm loser – 10:30am at Ford Wyoming Center 3rd Place

Friday 3:30pm winner vs. Friday 5pm winner – 5:30pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship

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Wyoming

Wyoming Crow Hunters Can Blast All They Want, But Nobody Eats The Birds

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Crow Hunters Can Blast All They Want, But Nobody Eats The Birds

Mention of bird hunting might conjure up images of hunters and their dogs huddling in freezing duck blinds or pounding the brush in hopes of kicking up pheasants. But crow hunting is a thing in Wyoming too.

“It’s about the sport of it,” Dan Kinneman of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily.

He started crow hunting when he was 14 and is about to turn 85. He’s never tried cooking and eating crows or known anybody who has.

Instead, shooting crows is essentially nuisance bird control, as they’re known to wreak havoc on agricultural crops.

“All the ranchers will let you hunt crows. I’ve never been refused access to hunt crows. They all hate them,” he said.

In Wyoming, crow hunting season runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28. No license is required, and there’s no bag limit. Hunters can shoot all the crows they want to.

It’s a ball for hunting dogs too, Kinneman said.

“My yellow Labrador retriever, he doesn’t care whether it’s a crow or duck. In fact, he likes crow hunting more than duck hunting, because there’s more action,” he said.

Crow hunting requires skill, patience and a good set of decoys, an experienced Wyoming hunter said. The upside is, there’s no bag limit, hunters can blast all the crows they want. No one eats them, though.

Don’t Expect It To Be Easy

Kinneman said that in the days of his youth, crow hunting was as simple as driving around and “shooting them out of trees with rifles.”

However, as the number of people and buildings potentially in the paths of bullets grew, such practices fell out of favor. Crow hunting became more regulated.

And it evolved to resemble hunting other birds, such as waterfowl.

Meaning, hunters started setting out decoys, hiding in blinds and using calls to tempt crows to within shotgun range.

Kinneman is no stranger to hunting of all types. He’s taken numerous species of big game in Wyoming and elsewhere. And in July 2005, he shot a prairie dog near Rock Springs from well over a mile away.

He hit the prairie dog from 2,157 yards away. A mile is 1,760 yards.

But bird hunting has always been his favorite.

“It’s my life,” he said.

He has a huge collection of duck, goose and dove decoys. And two tubs full of crow decoys.

The uninitiated might think that going out and blasting crows would be a slam dunk.

That isn’t so, Kinneman said. He likes crow hunting for the challenge of it.

“Hunting crows is hard. They are a lot smarter than ducks and geese,” he said.

Pick Up After Yourself

Even though he doesn’t eat crows, Kinneman said he never just left them littering the ground where he shot them.

“I never let them lay out there. I always picked them up and disposed of the carcasses,” he said.

That’s good ethics and it shows respect for the ranchers, he said.

“Leaving them (dead crows) out there would be no different than just leaving all of your empty shotgun shells out there,” he said.

“You have to pick up after yourself, or the ranchers won’t let you back onto their land,” he added.

Slow Year

At his age, Kinneman isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to get out crow hunting. And this year has been a total bust.

“I love doing it. But this year there are no crows,” he said.

The Riverton area is along major crow migration routes.

Picking a good hunting spot is a matter of “finding a flyway” that the crows are on and then setting up a spread of decoys and a blind along the route.

But with an unusually warm winter, the crow flyways have been practically empty, he said.