Helmet Fire...
On another website...back when that accident occurred...there was a fair bit of discussion and posting of news articles. The thrust of the information seemed to confirm it was a very snowy, dark night. The flight took place along an unlit...desolate mountain highway. The impact forces were relatively minor in that the pilot was only slightly injured and walked to the nearby highway where he was picked up by a State Police Office who was out searching for the aircraft. A look at the map shows the flight to be about 35-40 NM....with not a lot to look at.
All this being said....we will have to wait for the accident report to know what happened. That does not stop us from considering what we do know. I can assure you, there was no visible horizon out there that night and there were very few surface lights and then only in clusters along the highway. If you throw in the strong possibility it started snowing on the guy while he was making that transit....things could have gotten bad quickly.