Veteran Finder of Plane Wrecks to Write a Book

Gary Patric Macha has been trudging through California’s rugged mountains since 1964, and next year he plans to write a book about the estimated 1,200 planes that have crashed there.

“The book would be aimed at pilots and aviation enthusiasts, as well as search-and-rescue people,” said Macha, a former high school history and geography teacher.

While many sites of old wrecks are known and some are marked, “it would save time if rescue planes didn’t have to check out what might be an old crash,” he explained.

Macha has personally been to many of the sites, some still containing the wreckage. Most of the planes are marked with a painted yellow X to identify them as old crashes.

He has also taken similar treks to the mountains in Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Arizona, although most of his work is in California. “This state has the greater number of wrecks,” he said.

To document that assertion, Macha has a map at his Garden Grove home bristling with flags marking the location of each of the estimated 1,200 plane wrecks in California.

“I enjoy the challenge of locating something, much like divers seeking sunken ships,” said the 43-year-old teacher at the A.G. Currie Middle School in Tustin, who has flown as an observer on scores of flights with the Civil Air Patrol while looking for downed aircraft.

At other times, Macha and his wife, Mary Jane, 43, a teacher at Harbor View Elementary School in Huntington Beach, have walked through sometimes dangerous mountain passages to reach the wreckage.

“One time, we found a camp site ravaged by bears and found a wallet with bear teeth marks in it,” he recalled. “We were also confronted by a bear and we had quite an exciting escape that included skirting around some rattlesnakes.”

Besides providing information on crash-site locations, Macha said, he will take a human approach in writing his book to help pilots learn from the mistakes of others.

“We’ll talk about such things as why pilots take off in marginal or dangerous weather and then end up hitting a mountain because they couldn’t see,” he said.

Macha says that he relies heavily on newspaper accounts for much of his information, along with U.S. Forest Service data and law enforcement records.

Climbing mountains is nothing new to Macha, who worked as a hike master in 1960. “I’m an outdoors man and really enjoy the wilderness,” he said, and points out he’s also an environmentalist who can understand why people think plane wrecks constitute a litter problem and should be completely cleared.

“I can agree to a certain point, but if any of the wrecks have historical significance, they should have a memorial placed on the site with a sign asking people not to disturb it,” he said.

Otto Truetler set an enviable record driving his Orange County Transit District bus for 13 1/2 years on Route 85 between Santa Ana and Capistrano Beach.

He never called in sick, never was late and during the 14 1/2 years he has driven with the district, never had an accident.

The Laguna Niguel resident is also the district’s oldest driver at age 71.

At least he was. He just retired.

A West German film crew was in Dana Point filming the goings-on at the Beach Street Diner, which operates like diners did in the 1950s when records were played from a jukebox and real meat loaf and mashed potatoes were served.

“The ‘50s is a big item in Europe,” said diner owners Anne and Walter Bratten, who live in Capistrano Beach. “The film director said he’s traveled through the United States to find an authentic ‘50s diner and came back here to do the filming.”

The film crew shot such scenes as singing waiters, a Hula-Hoop demonstration, construction of a banana split, a rock ‘n’ roller keeping time with a spoon, and four contestants who stuffed their mouths with packages of crackers and tried to whistle.

The crew, shooting the film to be shown in West Germany as part of an “Images From America” TV magazine program, was also amazed at the never-ending refills of coffee, as in the ‘50s.

In West Germany, they said, they pay for each refill.

Acknowledgments--The 276 Serrano Elementary School students who participated in a jog-a-thon raised $5,604.75 for Olive Crest, a treatment center in Anaheim for abused children, according to Student Council adviser Cathi Budd of Orange. “The jog-a-thon was intended to raise the consciousness of the children and to make them aware that there are problems in their own hometown,” she said.