The finding echoed a trend throughout safety board reports on cargo crashes: In blaming the pilot, they often ignore the government that regulates the industry, the companies that sometimes skirt federal rules, and the cutthroat culture that forces some pilots to fly in treacherous conditions.

Santiago, a veteran pilot with a flight instructor's certificate, was so focused on aviation that all he did was "eat, drink and sleep flying," said Paul Dorris, a private pilot from Virginia who called Santiago his best friend.

Santiago was delivering canceled checks that morning, Dec. 14, 2000, from Lewiston, Maine, to Albany, N.Y.

After checking in on the icy, turbulent weather conditions, Santiago radioed, "OK, all right, going for it," and he took to the air at 4:20 a.m.

He soon encountered trouble. "I'm not gonna be able to, uh, to make it to Albany, uh, I've gotta, uh I ... I may have to shut down one engine," he radioed. "I'm losing it right now, uh, I'd like to land immediately nearest airport available."

The controller tried to guide Santiago to safe landing, but after 5 a.m., the pilot reported, "I've got a failed engine and uh, I guess I ... I'm picking up a lot of ice."

At 5:22 a.m., he crashed in Chesterfield, N.H., into a wooded hill at Woodman's Road's End Farm, home to a summer horsemanship camp for girls.

"This plane came in and it just stopped. And the minute it stopped I said, 'Oh my God, that plane just crashed up on Jackson Hill.' I jumped out of bed," Woodman said.

He called authorities, and upon hearing screams in the distance, he and Eitzman went in search of the pilot.

"He didn't have anything on him. We took our ... coats and stuff and put them on him."

Eitzman headed back down the hill to guide crews to the pilot, while Woodman, a former Coast Guard lieutenant, "just cradled him and tried to keep him as warm as I could."

Santiago, burned over most of his body, was still lucid.

"He said he crawled. He was burning, and the plane had just disintegrated around him but he was just covered with fuel. He dragged himself down," Woodman said.

As they huddled on the hill, the pilot told him why he flew that morning.

"He really wanted to be a commercial pilot and he needed those hours," Woodman said. "He said that he called and he felt he was fine. They wanted the checks. He couldn't sit and say, 'No I can't fly today.' They wanted these canceled checks down there and that's why he was flying."