Here is the article from the AZDailysun:
Hunters, pilot killed in Kaibab Forest plane crash
By LARRY HENDRICKS
Sun Staff Reporter
11/18/2004
A Sedona pilot and two hunters reported missing on an aerial scouting trip from the Williams Airport Tuesday were found dead amid the wreckage of their plane Wednesday morning.
Capt. Jeff Drayton of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office said that the three men had taken off from the airport at approximately 3:30 p.m. and were reported missing Wednesday morning.
The cause of the crash is unknown.
Sedona resident Jack Huffman, the pilot and owner of the 1967 Cessna Skymaster C-337B, was hired by Dan Peters of Glendale and Tom Rossi of Surprise to conduct an aerial scouting trip of Unit 8 hunting area.
The area stretches about 600 square miles from Parks east to Ash Fork and south to Paulden.
"They had been in the area scouting for elk before the start of the season," Drayton said.
When the three were reported missing, the sheriff's office contacted the Civil Air Patrol and the Department of Public Safety to begin an aerial search Wednesday morning.
At approxmately 10:30 a.m., a CAP crew spotted what appeared to be wreckage near the small community of Drake in Yavapai County.
A DPS helicopter was dispatched to the area, Drayton said.
The crew found the wreckage of a plane similar to Huffman's Cessna, but were unable to immediately identify the plane.
Three bodies were found inside the wreckage, Drayton said. Although it appears likely that the bodies are those of Huffman, Peters and Rossi, Drayton said the medical examiner will make positive identification.
Because the crash site was ultimately found in Yavapai County, the case was transferred to the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.
The cause of the crash is under investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to respond to the crash site.
Reporter Larry Hendricks can be reached at
[email protected] or 556-2262.