Geologist Jim Roddick of Vancouver has studied the BC "Broken Arrow" incident since the 1950s - the following is a passage from his article "Gentle Giant":
Another mystery concerns the aircraft itself. How did it reach a cirque more than 200 miles north of the bailout area? Postulation that the aircraft had a flown a huge arc far over the Pacific Ocean before crashing in the cirque still persist, but any pilot who had read Capt. Barry's account, quoted by the International News Service (in Vancouver Daily Province, February 16, 1950), would have concluded the obvious. He had stated that, "The ship was on automatic pilot and somehow it turned in the air and came back over us."
That was a very important statement. The subsequent inquiry recorded that he had set the automatic pilot for a clockwise curve which he thought would lead it to crash in Queen Charlotte Sound. It is clear, however, that his setting caused it to fly in circles. The circle size was not large, as he had seen the plane pass back over him before he landed. The overriding factor was the gale blowing northward about 55 knots per hour (about a mile per minute). It acted like a river carrying the busy plane for about three and a half hours. That estimate is derived from the duration of its radio carrier signal, created by Jim Ford when he had screwed down the operating key before jumping. The continuous carrier was picked up and monitored by a number of stations, including the tower at Vancouver airport. The signal was monitored until at least 3:05 AM. The distance of 212 miles between the bailout point and the crash site is consistent with the wind strength and direction that night.
The wreckage lies at 5500 feet elevation, perhaps, a thousand feet higher than the bailout altitude. The automatic pilot, like a human pilot, could not control the elevation of the plane while the engines were behaving erratically. Lessening of the fuel load, possible de-icing (due to probably drier conditions inland), and the fact that Barry had left the engines at full throttle, probably caused the plane to climb. In fact, it must have climbed in order to clear the intervening terrain, much of which is considerably higher than 5500 feet."
Jim Roddick
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3-01-2005