The State - News from June 13, 1988

A small plane with four people aboard crashed near Palm Springs, but its occupants escaped serious injury and one hiked down a mountainside to get help, authorities said. The pilot of the single-engine 46-Taylor aircraft had just taken off on a flight to Santa Barbara when the plane slammed into the side of Mt. San Jacinto at the 5,000-foot level, near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs police said. The pilot, Ed Seman, 30, and two passengers, Robert Tueler, 32, and Carla Valdez, 40, waited while a fourth passenger, Patricia Potter, 40, hiked out, reaching help nearly 12 hours later, police said. All four were from the Santa Barbara area.