Lewiston father and son killed in Valley County air crash

A 48-year-old Lewiston man who died in an airplane crash along with his 15-year-old son was a skilled pilot and a well-liked person, said his employer at Gustin Aviation.

The bodies of Neal Richard Humphrey, 48, and Cooper Layne Humphrey, 15, were recovered earlier this week from the wreckage of a single-engine airplane that crashed in eastern Valley County, the Valley County Sheriff’s Office said.

The father and son died from blunt-force trauma in the wreck, which occurred June 26 about 2 miles from the Lower Loon Airstrip, Valley County Coroner Scott Carver said.

The pair had taken off from the airstrip at about 7:30 p.m. June 26 and were flying to the Johnson Creek Airstrip 3 miles south of Yellow Pine, Valley County Chief Deputy Dave Stambaugh said.

The Piper Pacer PA-20 was reported overdue the next day by the Idaho Division of Aeronautics, Stambaugh said.

A Forest Service pilot spotted wreckage from the crash at about 11:45 a.m. June 27 on a steep hillside with a small fire burning, he said.

On June 28, two sheriff’s deputies and the Idaho Air National Guard flew to the scene by helicopter to retrieve the bodies.

“The terrain was a 40-degree slope,” Stambaugh said. “The plane was perched on the slope and unsecured during the recovery.”

Steve Gustin, owner of Gustin Aviation in Lewiston where Neal Humphrey worked, said the family had been in Lewiston less than a year after moving from Hailey, Idaho, and Florida before that.

Gustin said Humphrey had “good skills” as a pilot who was familiar with flying in the backcountry.

“He was an easygoing guy — everybody liked him,” Gustin said. The accident “was terrible. He hadn’t been here that long. But customers and employees all thought the world of him. He was a good guy.”

Gustin said he was not acquainted with the rest of Humphrey’s family.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and expects to release a preliminary report soon, NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris said.

The NTSB is a federal agency responsible for investigating all aviation accidents in the country, as well as accidents involving boats, railroads and pipelines.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.