It was a pleasant early afternoon on May 1, 2001. N16CG, a Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft similar to the aircraft depicted below, requested and was issued an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) clearance for a flight from Montgomery County airport in Conroe, TX, (now known as Lone Star Executive airport) to Alamogordo, NM. At approximately 12:32 PM local time, N16CG departed and established communication with Houston TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control). The flight progressed normally, and as the aircraft climbed through 11,000 feet the TRACON controller instructed the pilot to contact Houston ARTCC (Air Route Traffic Control Center). The pilot never acknowledged the frequency change, and no subsequent calls were received from N16CG.
Witnesses on the ground, among them a retired FAA air traffic control supervisor, observed N16CG descending in a "flat spin." Radar contact was lost at 1,200 feet MSL (mean sea level) and N16CG impacted the ground in a heavily wooded area west of Gosling Road and north of Spring Creek. Both occupants perished in the accident and post-crash fire.
Investigation revealed that power had been lost to the right engine of the aircraft, and the pilot had been unable to maintain control. The aircraft began a rapid and violent rotation in a level attitude, and plummeted almost directly to the ground. The violence of the rotation caused one wing tip fuel tank to separate from the aircraft. The tank was located, several months later, almost 1,000 feet from the remainder of the wreckage.
In the years that have passed since the accident, the forest has largely healed its wounds and little indication of that day's violence remains. You may observe gouges in the ground, and much of the vegetation in the immediate area is new growth, but there is no obvious indication of what occurred here. As you search for this cache, located near the accident site, it's interesting to consider how nature heals itself, and to perhaps spend a moment or two thinkng of the husband and wife who perished here on that pleasant spring day in 2001.
For anyone desiring more information on this accident, the complete NTSB Factual Report can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/N16CH-Final-Report
Safe parking may be found at the posted parking coordinates. Parking here will increase your hiking distance, but it will be safer than other, closer locations.
From the parking area, exit the park to the south, cross the foot bridge, then (carefully) cross the highway and follow your GPS. The cache is a small Lock & Lock container suitable for small items. Please bring your own pen or pencil.