Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CHALLIS, Idaho — A Park City resident, prominent member in the health care industry and owner of an Idaho bed and breakfast was killed in a plane crash in a wilderness area of central Idaho Saturday.
John H. Short, 70, of Park City, was killed along with three others when his Cessna T210M crashed and caught fire in the Loon Creek drainage above the Diamond-D ranch, about 30 minutes outside of Challis.
Also killed in the crash were Andrew D. Tyson, 46, Russell "Rusty" T. Cheney, 34, and Aaron "A.J." Linnell, 39, all from Teton County, Idaho.
Short, the owner of the Diamond-D Ranch, was flying the three Idaho engineers from Creative Energies — solar power providers out of Victor, Idaho — to the ranch to assess a possible job installation, according to a statement from the Custer County Sheriff’s Department.
The plane landed at the Loon Creek Airstrip on Friday morning and the men spent about two hours assessing the job site, according to the sheriff's office. They took off again about 1 p.m. A short time later, the Federal Aviation Administration received an emergency locator transmitter activation from the aircraft.
Employees from the Double-D Ranch went out to investigate.
"They discovered a crashed single-engine aircraft at the north end of the Loon Creek Airstrip. The plane crashed then had caught fire, and the fuselage of the plane was burned away. All that remained was the tail section and wings," according to the sheriff's office.
The Custer County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the accident at 4:25 p.m. Because of nightfall, a 12-member search team, including aircraft, was assembled to start first thing Saturday morning to recover the bodies, according to the sheriff's office.
[John Short] was both a colleague and a friend, and he will be sorely missed.
–Joseph Swedish, Anthem Inc.
Short was a board member of several health care providers. At the time of his death, he was on the board of directors for Anthem Inc.
Employees at the Diamond-D Ranch declined comment to the Deseret News on Sunday, saying it was too early.
“John served our board with great commitment. He leaves a legacy of incredible business acumen, strategy formulation skills, and passion for business excellence recognized by all of us, as fellow colleagues who came to know him for his inquisitive nature and creative thinking,” Joseph Swedish, president and chief executive officer of Anthem, said in a prepared statement. “To me, John was an excellent adviser who brought his deep knowledge of operational performance to a variety of issues that have been critical to the transformation of our company. He was both a colleague and a friend, and he will be sorely missed.”
Short was the former CEO of RehabCare Group, acquired by Kindred Health Care. He had been an Anthem board member since September 2013.
According to one online bio, Short "previously served as executive chairman of the board of directors of Vericare Management Inc., a provider of mental health services to patients in long-term care facilities," and "from March 2012 to October 2012, as president and chief executive officer of RehabCare and as a director from 1991 to June 2011.
Short also taught at local universities. According to the University of Utah website, he has held teaching positions in the field of economics at the University of Utah and what was then Weber State College. Short has a bachelor's degree in economics from San Jose State College in California as well as a doctorate in economics from the University of Utah, according to the website.
Creative Energies released a statement Sunday evening regarding their employees killed in the crash.
"All of us are reeling from the tragic deaths of our colleagues," company co-owner Toby Schmidt said in a prepared statement.
