High Sierra: always a dangerous and unforgiving area to fly

From CNN article about Steve Fossett crash site work:

"The high Sierra is always a dangerous and unforgiving area to fly, he said. There's little room for error, Manning said, for pilots who like to fly low and slow, "yanking and banking" through the region's spectacular granite peaks and canyons.

"There are so many things that could have gone wrong," he said. "Was it a medical problem? Did the aircraft fail? He had flown that aircraft before but not a whole lot. Did he know the area? The wind shears, the down drafts? Did he just get into a compromised position where he couldn't get out?""

References:
Snow halts Fossett crash site work. CNN, 10/2008.
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