On this solemn day, a glimmer of hope:

Hunters In Right Place, Right Time To Rescue Crashed Pilot Near Meeteetse
CowboyStateDaily | 9/3/24 | Clair McFarland

A series of delays placed a Black Hawk pilot and a former athletic trainer in the right place and time to rescue a wrecked and hurt airplane pilot from a fire outside Meeteetse, Wyoming, on Sunday.

When the pilot’s plane went down, it had sparked a fire in the trees around him.

Steve Atencio and J.R. Larsen were out looking for big horn sheep Sunday morning so they could fill Larsen’s hunting tag, the pair told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday interview.

Atencio is a Black Hawk pilot for the Wyoming Army Guard in Cheyenne and has a background in firefighting, while Larsen worked prior as a certified athletic trainer.

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At about 10:45 that morning, both men heard a sputter, followed by a booming thump.

Atencio, who takes notice of aircraft, had seen a plane flying overhead moments earlier, but he wasn’t sure if the noise was connected to that plane sighting, he told Cowboy State Daily.

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The flames started creeping toward the pilot. Larsen and Atencio knew they had to get him out of there, the latter recalled.

Atencio, a former firefighter, wasn’t just worried about the heat harming the injured man. He was also concerned about falling trees. Even then, branches were falling.

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The two men helped responders secure the pilot onto a board and carried him gingerly downhill toward the helicopter. Then it loaded the injured man and flew away.

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He also marveled at the odds of them being there in the first place. They were on a strange route, behind schedule, and happened to be standing on a hill out of their course when they first noticed the smoke.

“Nothing about where we were headed was part of the plan,” said Larsen. “For whatever reason, that’s where we were put.”