Pulaski Times

Arkansas Civil Air Patrol issued the following announcement on Nov. 18.

A 58-year-old man and his 13-year-old daughter, who survived a crash of their small, single-engine plane, were found in heavily wooded state game lands in northeastern Pennsylvania thanks to the combined efforts of Civil Air Patrol’s National Radar Analysis Team and National Cell Phone Forensics Team.

After departing from Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport on Nov. 14, the pilot performed a touch and go at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport and crashed shortly afterward.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued an Alert Notice to public safety agencies just after 7:30 p.m. local time Sunday about the missing aircraft.

“When the FAA Alert Notice came out on a missing aircraft, (2nd Lt.) Joe Ashworth (of the radar analysis team) and I glanced at the data and both agreed the plane had crashed and asked the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to immediately go to mission,” said Lt. Col. Mark Young, commander of the radar analysis team.

“We stressed to them that based on the data we had, this appeared to be a survivable crash and should be treated as an emergency. After hearing from the field that it was dark, freezing rain, muddy, and heavy woods, I knew we had to get more accurate data. I asked for the cell phone forensics team to be activated.”

One significant complication was that no one had cellphone contact information for the pilot.

“I called 911 about 10 p.m. because I knew my husband was in trouble,” said the pilot’s wife. “Two hours before I even realized he was in trouble, Lt. Col. Young was working with (local authorities) to get them searching for him.

“The sheriff’s office made the connection between the call they had gotten from Lt. Col. Young about a possible plane crash with my 911 call. He was the one who called me back. I gave Lt. Col. Young my husband’s cellular phone number and iPad information, and he took it from there.”

That was the information needed for the AFRCC to assign the cellphone team to the mission.

Original source can be found here.

Source: Arkansas Civil Air Patrol