James Robinson wrote:
Pilot reported heavy downdraft over Lancaster, CA, resulting in crash.

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/chico/ci_4917367

Can somebody explain what he did right/wrong?

That's happened to me out there too. I reported to ATC that I couldn't
maintain atltitude and got pulled down into the clouds. I picked up a
bit of ice and went below the MEA. Luckily I had a terrain GPS on board
and could stay between the mountains. Before anything got worse I got
the updraft and couldn't hold altitude again. The next time I flew that
same route I flew it at 14,000 and avoided the situation. This happens
when the winds are high in that area. I believe the winds were 25-30
knots at the same. Interestingly there was a c-172 about 10 miles away
that wasn't having any problems.

-Robert