Thick Branches Keep Small Plane From Crashing
Thick pine branches stopped a small plane a few feet above the ground Wednesday, keeping it from crashing and allowing all three persons aboard to walk away without a scratch.
“It was pretty hairy,” said Luc Coullard, 27, of Montreal, one of the passengers. “I thought I was going to die. Patrick did a real good job.”
Patrick Borazka, 22, of France, was piloting the rented Cessna 172. The third person on board was Bruno Passera, 22, also a Frenchman. The three had learned to fly together in Georgia, receiving their licenses in December, said Mark Shields, their instructor.
Borazka said that, when he realized the plane did not have the altitude and speed to top 11,312-foot Monarch Pass, he banked to try another approach. But the plane began dropping, clipping treetops as it headed for its resting place just above a snowbank.
“I looked around,” Coullard said, “and no one was hurt. Amazing. We got out fast.”
The three climbed from the hanging aircraft and walked three miles to the Monarch Lodge to telephone the Chaffey County Sheriff’s Department and report the incident.
They were en route to San Diego before visiting the coastal resorts of Mexico.
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