Pilot Uses Cell Phone To Call For Rescue
A Piper Cherokee Six (photo of type below) crashed late
Saturday evening in a densely-wooded area a few miles northeast of
Pellston Regional Airport in Michigan. The plane's four occupants
all survived the crash.
According to local fire rescue personnel the aircraft lost power
and crash landed coming to rest nose down against a tree. The
plane's wreckage was strewn across several hundred feet.
Pilot Dave Garland, 41, and his three passengers were all
injured and remained strapped in the aircraft until rescuers found
and cut them from the fuselage using the jaws of life.
Garland reportedly radioed the Pellston airport after the
plane's engine quit. Pellston Fire Chief Randolph Bricker told the
Associated Press, "My heart fell right to my shoes when I heard
Dave on the radio," said Bricker, who knows Garland and had been
talking with him via radio minutes before the engine stopped. "The
last thing we heard from him was, 'We're going down.'"
Bricker said Garland and his passengers had attended a winter
festival in Michigan's upper peninsula and were on their way back
to Detroit. Bricker says Garland heard a US Coast Guard helicopter
give his general location on the radio, and used his cell phone to
call local dispatchers helping to pinpoint the crash site.
According to Bricker, the search took about two hours and
involved more than 20 agencies. "It's a miracle," Bricker said, "It
was quite a rescue when you sit back and look at everything that
was accomplished in such a short time."
Garland and his passengers were all taken to area hospitals with
serious to severe injuries.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration were on the
scene to begin on investigation Monday.
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** Report created 2/12/2007 Record
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IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 4258R
Make/Model: PA32 Description: PA-32
Cherokee Six, Six, Saratoga, Turbo
Date: 02/11/2007 Time: 0216
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: PELLSTON State: MI Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
ACFT FORCED LANDING IN TREES FOLLOWING LOSS OF ENGINE POWER
NEAR PELLSTON,
MICHIGAN
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 4 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk: 2
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: 220 8KT, VIS 5SM, OVC 029 M09/M13 A3001
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase:
Cruise Operation: OTHER
Departed: HANCOCK,
MICHIGAN
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination: PONTIAC,
MICHIGAN Flt Plan:
IFR Wx
Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:
FAA FSDO: GRAND RAPIDS, MI
(GL09)
Entry date: 02/12/2007