When All Else Failed, Downed Fliers Used Text Messaging To Contact Rescuers

It was supposed to be an easy little jaunt -- a flight from Little Rock, AR, to Baxter, AR, for a $50 burger. It ended when the Cessna 140 went down in the Ozark National Forest and the 19-year old passenger used her cell phone to call for help.

Well, "call for help" doesn't quite cover it.

The woman and her 21-year old pilot were part of a two-plane flight when their engine apparently quit, according to witnesses. They had just left Baxter when problems started.

"It pitched left, up the ridge and I never heard from him again," witness James Holland told a Baxter Bulletin reporter while sitting on his mule about a half-mile from the crash. "The motor sounded real weak."

Holland called 911 and the search was underway. The other aircraft in the flight circled the downed 140 (file photo of type, below) for awhile, then departed the area.

But if you've ever been in the Ozark National Forest near Big Flat, you know how dense those woods are. It took rescuers more than two hours to pick their way through the vegetation, not certain of where the aircraft was.

That's when the unnamed 19-year old woman tried her cell phone. She couldn't get a voice signal, but was able to text message her mother in Little Rock that the plane had crashed and they needed help. About the same time, one of the people on board the other aircraft issued a similar text message on his cell phone, notifying his father of the mishap.

With that kind of improvised high-tech communication, searchers were able to locate the wreckage, using a helicopter and teams on foot.

“The two passengers are OK, as far as we know,” Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery told the Bulletin. “They were airlifted out and taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center.”

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 72901        Make/Model: C140      Description:
  Date: 10/16/2005     Time: 2115

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
  City: BIG FLAT   State: AR   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, BIG FLAT, AR

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   2     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:           Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: FLP 2115 AUKTO 09003KT 10SM CLR 26/09 A3011

OTHER DATA

  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: LITTLE ROCK, AR  (SW11)               Entry date: 10/17/2005

FMI: www.ntsb.gov