Air Force rescue helicopter makes an emergency landing during search for two passengers of crashed airplane

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Posted 8:03AM on Thursday, January 10, 2002

DURANGO, Colo. - An Air Force helicopter helping in the search for two passengers of a crashed airplane made an emergency landing early Thursday, but none of the six crew members and two medical personnel onboard were injured, officials said. The helicopter's main rotor struck a tree as it either was landing or departing from a mountain location, said spokesman Steve Milligan. The helicopter made a hard landing and was grounded. The helicopter apparently was close to the site of the accident that prompted the search but it was unclear whether the rescuers had reached the two passengers who were aboard the single-engine plane that crashed in a remote, mountainous area in the southwest corner of Colorado. The airplane passengers may have suffered broken bones and were believed to be at the crash site north of Durango, La Plata County sheriff's Lt. Dan Bender said. The passengers' names were not released. The 31-year-old pilot is from Farmington, N.M., where the flight originated. One of the passengers is from Florida and the other is from New Mexico. Both are in their 40s. The Air Force search and rescue crew was dispatched from Albuquerque, N.M., Wednesday night after the plane's pilot hiked for six hours until he could summon help on his cell phone. The four-seat Cessna 172 crashed in a grove of trees about 200 miles southwest of Denver, said Mike Spray of the Civil Air Patrol. The plane had been on a sightseeing trip.