GPS Couldn't Resolve Location, But Flashlight Worked

Glowing mobile phones can be really annoying in darkened movie theaters. But a 43-year-old Maryland man reportedly used the the flashlight on his iPhone to guide a helicopter pilot to his location after becoming lost in a dark, mountainside park.

The Baltimore Sun reports Christopher Tkacik went hiking in Gambrill State Park, a 1,137-acre tract in Western Maryland, with his dog last Saturday afternoon. He explains, "I hike an awful lot. I've never been lost." He called 911 about 1730 EST after encountering a stream he knew he hadn't seen on the way in, "when I realized I wasn't going to get off this mountain before it gets pitch black." He ended up spending about seven hours in the park.

A rescue crew responded in a Eurocopter AS 365, and they could communicate with the hiker through his iPhone, but neither the phone's GPS  nor triangulation techniques could locate him. With his battery nearly exhausted, Tkacik used the phone's flashlight function to try to get the attention of the searchers, and he was finally spotted through night-vision goggles. Two firefighters were lowered from the helo, and walked the hiker safely out of the park about 8pm.

The Sun reports Tkacik made it home in time to take his wife to a New Years Eve party.

FMI: www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/gambrill.asp