Alive and recovering. A pilot and his student were pulled from the wreckage of a small plane crash in Joshua Tree Monday.
Park Richardson, owner of Roy Williams Airport where the plane had taken off, identified the instructor pilot as Warner Henry, of Twentynine Palms, and the student pilot as Rocky Harvey, of Joshua Tree.
Harvey's wife, Karen Hausteen, also a pilot, said both men have broken bones but should be okay.
According to Richardson, Henry told him the plane was at
3,
000 feet when it was
caught in a downdraft and pulled towards the ground. Henry told him the plane was being pulled down
at 120- knots which is equivalent to
going 140-
miles per hour in a car.When looking at pictures of the plane crash, it's hard to believe that both Henry and Harvey made it out alive. The wreckage lay in a mountainous and remote area after the crash, the front-end completely smashed.
Frank Tullo was one of three pilots with Civil Air Patrol, a search and rescue team, who braved the stormy weather to search for the victims.
"There were a lot of clouds and a lot of rain and it was rough," Tullo said. "A lot of turbulance up there."
Gene Ramirez piloted the plane.
"We've been on a few of these and seldom do you find anyone alive," Ramirez said.
Roy Hofheinz manned the equipment.
"We were just praying when that happened that the guys were not cut up or hurt up," Hofheinz said.
The Cesna- 172 had taken off from Roy Williams Airport in Joshua Tree Monday morning and was on its way to Palm Springs International Airport.
About ten miles before landing, the plane disappeared from the radar. It was determined it had crashed and crews started searching by air and ground.
"Massive clouds in that area so we could not fly to it and have a visual on the crash site," Ramirez said. The rescue plane circled the area for hours before direction-finding equipment helped pinpoint the crash site.
It took ground crews several more hours to find the victims. Directions were being relayed to them by the air crew.
"We've seen many wreckages and they usually don't turn out this way. This is really gratifying because two people lived," Tullo said.
Richardson said getting caught in a downdraft is very rare. He's only seen it once before in his twenty years of flying.
Hausteen said the NTSB needs to do an investigation before a cause can officially be determined.
