Montrose Search and Rescue – Surviving a Plane Crash

This tale chronicles an unusual event – a plane crash in the San Gabriel Mountains in which everyone survived! In June 1991, four young men in their 20s decided on a fun weekend in Laughlin, Nevada. One of the friends, Michael, was a good pilot. His dad owned a plane at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima so after work on Friday evening they all piled into the four-seater, a 1969 Piper Cherokee. They took off at 8 p.m. just as the summer sun was fading. Within a few minutes they were above Little Tujunga Canyon, gaining altitude to make it over the San Gabriel Mountains.

They were nearing Mendenhall Peak in the front range, still climbing, when the plane’s engine began to lose power. The plane lost altitude quickly. Michael, the pilot, was able to pick out a fire road in the dim light and headed for it. On the way down Michael had to turn hard to avoid a rocky outcropping. The engine cut out and they dropped hard onto the side of the canyon, far short of the fire road. The small plane tumbled end-over-end, wadding up as it rolled, finally sliding to a stop, twisted like a pretzel. All the instruments were smashed, the windows broken out and one door ripped off.

Inside the plane, a passenger in the back seat, Dean, had managed to tuck himself into a protective ball just before impact, and miraculously was uninjured. He crawled from the wreckage onto the steep hillside. His three companions were bloody and unconscious, still strapped in their seats. Dean pulled them out one-by-one and slowly brought them back to consciousness. Their radio was dead, so it would be up to Dean to go for help.

The fire road was still below them, so Dean slid 250 feet down the near vertical hillside in the dark. When he reached the road, he took off running. The road was a dirt track following the power lines. Dean would run as far as he could, then walk for a while, then run again until he could run no more. It was about 10 miles to the first house, and it took Dean until 11 p.m. to reach it. He pounded on the door, and the authorities were called.

Within an hour, a rescue helicopter had spotted the wreckage – quick work in the blackness of night – but there was nowhere to set down in the rugged darkness. Driving a 4WD vehicle, the Montrose Search and Rescue team was headed up the road that Dean had just run. When it got near the crash site, the members climbed the steep hillside on foot to the victims, reaching them at 1 a.m. The three injured men were strapped into rescue litters and lowered down to the rescue vehicle, which took them to a waiting helicopter down below. They were treated at the hospital for broken bones, particularly in the facial area, and multiple cuts and contusions. Dean was fine, save for some bruises, and extremely sore muscles.

Dean was deemed the hero of this episode, but he gave the credit to the pilot for his piloting skills in the crash. It was indeed miraculous that no one was killed, which could only be attributed to the fact that the pilot had missed the rocks, and that the plane was falling at nearly the same angle as the hillside. If they had hit the hillside even close to straight on, they would have died instantly. Even so, the fully fueled plane, torn open in many places, could have easily burst into flame.

To MSAR team member Sue Lapham, the survival of the crash victims was magic. She said when they finally reached the wreck, the three survivors simply said “Hello” as the rescue team came into sight. Sue reflected afterward: “These people are so lucky! We do a lot of plane crashes, and we never rescue anyone who’s alive. It was music to our ears and exciting. It was the best rescue we ever had.”

  mike lawler