EMR:
_ 'r Stanchard Da*e Moor and Pat
S?e3'~s st'uggiec »o *a■« -n toe 80
—o- a -<s or ~e North Sster ca". -
ng toesr 40-poord packs across toe
snow anc ocse rocks
Steams ct ec out Ere' > a no - s
toends looked to see Powm 15
"eet from w^'e ~e was a second
ea^ -e' -e o»c*ec —seJ jo and toe
sio* pace contsnuec
The next da, Ste-.e ="s ano *.'ocr
climbed nto a Narona Guard Huey
helicopter piloted by Coktoe 3
Gottlieb They had spent another
frustrating day without locating the
small aircraft that had crashed
somewhere near the North Sster or
Tenas Lakes
As the neiicopter few back to a
base camp at McKenzie Pass a rare
emergency radio transmission came
through A storm was heading straight
up the McKenzie Valley*
Gottlieb looked up from hs controls
and saw the blanket of clouds heading
toward the craft He veered the
helicopter around to fly instead to
Redmond going back over the North
and Middle Sister He was already
tired from negotiating the winds
gusting up to 100 mph. over the
mountains
Quel prevailed Gottlieb began to
pound hs fst on the instrument panel
Pitts stared at the experienced pilot's
unusual action.
The gas gauge was not working
The aircraft climPed to a higher
elevation so they could autorotate to a
landing if the gas ran out
They never needed to. but the in
cident maoe worse days of frustration
for Eugene Mountain Rescue
•nemoers as they searched n fierce
September *ea"-e' for toe gf
plane its p ot ano toree passengers
The pane was reported mesmg or
Thursday Sept 6. by the Seattle -AA
control center which had lost radio
contact with the pane s pilot The
center notified Lt Howard Kershner
of the Lane County Sheriff s office and
the National Guard Salem
headquarters
The guard dispatched a Mohawk
aircraft to ffy over the area and at
tempt to pick up transmissions from
an Emergency Locate1- Transmitter
(ELT) located on all aircraft
Tire plane s specialized equipment
pcked up the signal Put it echoed off
the steeo rock walls in the area and no
exact fix could Pe made on the loca
tion of the downed plane
No' f ed that the plane was in Lane
County Kersnner dispatched Sheriff s
Deputy uonme Henderson to coor
d nate a search by a posse and EMR
was asked to provide volunteers to tne
search
EMR was founded in 1968 as an
offshoot of the Obsidians climbing
dub as a specialized mountain res
cue team
Fifty volunteers make themselves
avaaabie and the team has been vital
in searches rescues and body
recoveries since its existence This
year besides the North Sister rescue,
they have rescued a woman who
dislocated her hip during a crpss
country ski tnp and a sheep which ten
down into a steep gully
On criday following the crash the
first of two teams of EMR members set
out to search Jim Blanchard Da>e
Moon and Pat Steams set out up the
North Sister The second group
climbed on Saturday
In the meantime forest rangers and
others set out on horseback ana
four-whee; drives whue the National
Guard provided helicopter support to
the climbers
Continuous tog hampered an efforts
to sight the aircraft
Each search team was equipped
with a receiver fq pick up the ELT
signals Like the Mohawx they did
pick up the transmissions but the
signals came Horn a directions after
the mountainous terrain was finished
ptaymg its havoc
The winds strained the searchers
anq pilots physical abilities
r '3 . “ienoersor called off‘uqt-e'
searches "at Saturday because of
the hopeless weather A> returned to
the base at Frog Camp for food and
s<eep
Sunday, the searchers spent a
tense day at the camp No expedi
tions were possible because of the
continuing bad weather
(Continued on Page ?B)
Local unit comes to the rescue
saves snowbound mountaineers
Struggling against the tee and wind of the North Sister,
three members of the Eugene Mountain Rescue SQuad
make their way toward the crash site of the small
aircraft After several fruitless attempts. Jim Blanchard.
Dale Moon and John Rich found the wrecked plane.
I
which was lodged between two rugged peaks The pilot
and three others aboard were killed in the crash, so the
trio did the only thing they could, and secured the plane
to the mountain s slope in hopes of later retrieving some
of the parts