Investigators probe crashes of plane

Investigators probe crashes of plane, helicopter

Jan. 12, 2002

By Shane Benjamin
Durango Herald Staff Writer

The Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration launched investigations Thursday into two crashes that occurred 16 hours apart in a remote area of the San Juan Mountains.

A $34 million Air Force helicopter crashed from a very low altitude while searching before dawn Thursday for the survivors of a plane crash north of Durango.

The plane’s pilot – Justin R. Kirkbride, 31, of Farmington – was in both crashes. After walking almost six hours Wednesday for help, he helped the helicopter crew search for the plane.

The helicopter crashed at about 3:30 a.m. Thursday from an estimated height of 60 feet, frightening the passengers and stranding them for several hours. Parts of the helicopter were scattered nearby.

"We were all beat up," said Keith Roush, a La Plata County Search and Rescue volunteer on the helicopter.

But none of the helicopter-crash victims were injured seriously enough to be hospitalized. All the victims in both crashes survived and were rescued Thursday morning.

Kirkbride, the pilot of the single-engine, four-seat Cessna 172 airplane, escaped injury.

His two passengers were stranded for about 18 hours before ground rescuers reached them at 5 a.m. Thursday.

Authorities identified the passengers as Tommy Robbins, 48, of Kirtland, N.M., who was briefly knocked unconscious by the crash; and Robbins’ brother-in-law, Larry Dimond, 42, of St. Petersburg, Fla.

They were looking for wildlife and were wearing only light clothing when their plane suddenly lost power late Wednesday morning, Kirkbride told reporters.

Kirkbride said he was flying at about 1,000 feet above ground when the plane suddenly lost power. "It was a power and lift problem," he said.

Butch Knowlton, director of emergency preparedness for La Plata County, said he believes the crash resulted from weight and altitude.

The FAA declined to comment.

The Air Force provided few details of the helicopter crash and declined to discuss its investigation.

Robbins tore insulation and carpeting from the plane to make a makeshift shelter Wednesday night. Durango Mountain Resort said the temperature dipped to 24 degrees. The plane had no survival gear, authorities said.

"They were equipped for the beach," Knowlton said.

Kirkbride walked almost six hours Wednesday to reach a spot where he could call for help from his cell phone, authorities said.

Robbins was treated at Mercy Medical Center for two rib fractures and several bruises and scrapes, and was later released, said hospital spokesman Joe Wade Plunk. Dimond underwent surgery Thursday for a broken lower left leg and left ankle. He was listed in stable condition Thursday night.

The MH-53J Pave Low helicopter sent to rescue Robbins and Dimond was one of two helicopters dispatched Wednesday night from the 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.

The Air Force was summoned because of its night-search capabilities, Knowlton said.

The helicopter carried six Air Force crew members, Kirkbride and Roush. The six crew members and Roush were treated briefly at Mercy and released.

Authorities gave this account of the crashes and rescues:

The single-engine Cessna plane left the Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday for a two-hour sightseeing tour of Southwest Colorado, and crashed at about 11:30 a.m. in the Dutch Creek Drainage, about four miles northwest of the Tamarron resort, in heavy timber, Knowlton said.

The plane’s emergency locator emitted a signal that was picked up by the Civil Air Patrol, but the signal was lost when the transmitter’s battery died, said Tom Healy, information officer for the San Juan Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.

As the Civil Air Patrol searched for the wreckage, Kirkbride walked through snow down Dutch Creek to Bondurant Creek, where his cell phone finally worked, said Joanne Spina, spokeswoman for La Plata County.

Knowlton said he called Kirkbride on his cell phone but had to leave a message. Kirkbride called Knowlton back about five minutes later, and Knowlton instructed Kirkbride to look for the Civil Air Patrol plane flying overhead.

When the plane was directly over Kirkbride, a global positioning system was used to mark his position, and a New Air helicopter was guided to him, Knowlton said.

Kirkbride was rescued at 5:48 p.m. Wednesday. New Air is a Durango-based helicopter service.

By 9 p.m. Wednesday, Kirtland Air Force Base had dispatched the two helicopters and a four-engine C-130 propeller plane used for communications and in-flight refueling, Spina said. Residents of Durango and the Animas Valley heard the aircraft flying over the area.

Knowlton said he requested the military aid because he had good reason to believe the crash victims were alive and needed immediate assistance.

Ground rescuers found the pilot’s footprints at about 2 a.m. Rescuers rode the Durango Mountain Resort ski lift to a point where they took snowmobiles and Sno-Cats to the aircraft, Spina said.

At 3:15 a.m. one of the Air Force helicopters located the downed Cessna. While flying low, the rotor of one of the helicopters clipped a tree, Kirtland spokesman Steve Milligan said, forcing the hard landing eight-tenths of a mile northeast of the Cessna crash site.

Milligan said he didn’t know how or why the helicopter struck the tree. The helicopter was equipped with radar to help it avoid terrain even in the dark, he said.

Spina said the pilot and passengers started a fire as a signal to the rescuers aboard the other helicopter.

All the main rotors of the helicopter were broken off and strewn from 200 to 300 feet around the crash site, said Ed Zink, a member of Search and Rescue, who visited both crash sites. The tail rotors were completely gone, he said.

The Cessna was heavily damaged with the tail and wings ripped off after hitting spruce trees on its way down, Zink said.

Rescue crews on foot reached the Cessna at about 5 a.m. and moved the two victims south to an accessible location for a New Air helicopter to pick them up. By 9:45 a.m. both passengers had been taken to Mercy.

The eight passengers aboard the downed Air Force helicopter walked about 11¼2 miles through 2 to 3 feet of snow to a location where snowmobiles were waiting to take them another two miles to a rescue helicopter, Knowlton said. All were taken to Mercy by 1 p.m.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office sent a deputy to guard the plane until an armed Air Force guard could arrive, Spina said.

Knowlton said the rescue operation, which involved about 75 people, was one of the biggest in La Plata County history.

Managing Editor David Staats, Staff Writers Bob Schober and Tom Sluis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.