Teen survives after plane ends up in K-Country creek

[captain2k_ca]

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/...07348-sun.html

Kudos to an excellent job by a lucky young pilot. this where all that training pays off.....





Teen survives after plane ends up in K-Country creek

By PABLO FERNANDEZ AND TODD SAELHOF, CALGARY SUN


A family member kisses a plane-crash victim as STARS personnel wheel him into Foothills hospital yesterday. The young pilot crashed his plane in the Kananaskis area. (DARREN MAKOWICHUK, Sun)
KANANASKIS -- A teenage pilot escaped with his life yesterday afternoon after crashing his small plane upside down in a river in K-Country and walking away from the wreckage.

The unidentified lone flyer had time to radio "mayday" twice, telling air-traffic control at 2:25 p.m. he was experiencing engine failure.

The Cessna 172 then disappeared off radar screens at the Springbank Airport.

The pilot was knocked unconscious by the impact. But as search and rescue officials hunted for him, he regained consciousness and -- while still strapped in the plane and hanging upside down -- was able to radio aircraft in the area to direct searchers.

Cochrane RCMP, investigating the incident in conjunction with the Transportation Board, said civilian aircraft in the area located the downed Cessna and kept watch over the pilot who had freed himself. He was walking around the plane and had started a signal fire near the aircraft.

Kurtis Hilsabeck, 22, was among those overhead helping guide rescuers to the crash site on the Elbow River near Gooseberry Falls, about 30 km southwest of Calgary.

"We saw the airplane upside down in the river and the pilot sitting on a log about 30 metres away on an island," said Hilsabeck, who watched the scene unfold below from a Cessna being flown by co-pilot Adam Leath.


"He wasn't moving around a lot, so we knew he wasn't completely alright.

"Another pilot was going to try to land his plane in the river valley, but we heard that STARS was coming, so he didn't."

STARS air ambulance from Calgary and soon landed near the downed aircraft.

The victim was flown to Foothills Hospital in stable condition suffering neck and back injuries.

Anxious family members waited outside the hospital as STARS landed, and one family member kissed the pilot as he was wheeled into the emergency ward.

Hilsabeck also visited the young pilot in hospital last night.

"He was shaken up, but he said he was doing okay and physically he was doing well," Hilsabeck said.

"He said the engine quit on him.

"We're just glad he's okay and we could help take care of one of our own."

Rodney Gair, zone commander for the Calgary Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, said the pilot "was very lucky to be alive in many ways.

"But he also did many things right," said Gair, referring to the mayday call, which included a description of his location, and keeping calm enough to guide rescuers.

He also landed in a low-volume river bed, and the plane didn't become immersed in the water.

"It's only the second plane crash in this area in the last two years where people have survived," Gair said. "Usually when we come into this area, it's not a search operation -- it's a recovery operation."

Scott Miller, duty maritime co-ordinator with the joint rescue co-ordination centre at CFB Trenton, Ont., said a helicopter was sent in from Edmonton while local authorities were scrambling to co-ordinate resources to respond to the crash.

Gair said officials were concerned about fluids from the plane seeping into the river.