Glider Pilot and Passenger Survive Crash in the San Gabriels

A glider pilot and her passenger were rescued unharmed Sunday morning after a crash landing and a cold night in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Yvonne Robinson, 37, and her passenger were spotted by another pilot around 7:20 a.m., about seven miles south of the Llano flying school, where they had taken off Saturday afternoon. The two were hoisted into a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s rescue helicopter and flown to safety.

Robinson, a six-year gliding veteran, said conditions were ideal at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, when she and passenger Tom Erickson, 45, were towed aloft in the engineless craft by a fixed-wing plane for a 45-minute joyride.

“It was absolutely beautiful,” she said.

Trouble began when Robinson detached from the escort plane after crossing over the crest of one of the area’s tallest peaks. More than a mile above the earth, wind currents prevented Robinson from gaining any altitude.

“Right away, I wasn’t sure I could make it back over the ridge. There was ‘sink’ everywhere,” she said, using the gliding term that describes the wind condition. “I was trying to get any lift I could. It wasn’t working.”

For about half an hour, Robinson circled over a rugged canyon struggling to get enough height to return home. Eventually, she resigned herself -- and Erickson -- to an emergency landing.

Erickson, who could not be reached for comment, remained calm in his seat in the front of the glider, Robinson said.

Robinson managed to slow the plane greatly before touching down on a mountainside about 4,000 feet above sea level.

With the nose pointing up the slope, a bed of scrub brush provided a relatively soft and quick landing. The plane was not seriously damaged.

With the sun setting, Robinson realized she had forgotten her cellphone, radio and drinking water in her car. Erickson, too, had left his cellphone behind.

“I saw we weren’t going anywhere, so we waited. We watched for planes,” she said.

None came.

Sheriff’s Deputy Daryl Bonsall of the Palmdale station said staff at Great Western Soaring School called at 5 p.m. to alert police that Robinson was more than two hours late. A patrol vehicle in the area searched for a few hours. But, with too little light and no fixed location for the glider, the decision was made to wait until morning to begin searching by air.

As temperatures dipped into the 20s, Robinson and Erickson climbed back into the plane. Sleep was impossible, Robinson said. The two passed the night swapping stories about Simi Valley, where they both live. Robinson said she glanced at her watch incessantly -- using the display light from her iPod to see.

“Time seemed to be moving so slowly. It was such a long time [until sunrise]. I thought my toes would fall off,” she said.

By 7 a.m., two sheriff’s helicopters, two other helicopters hired by Robinson’s father and a pilot from the flying school were in the air searching for the pair. It took only minutes to find them.