The plane lost power and was crashing. Lucky for a Santa Rosa family, the plane had a parachute
Three passengers of a small plane that lost engine power minutes after takeoff suffered only minor injuries after the pilot deployed a parachute system that eased the plane’s crash landing.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received a call Friday around 1:15 p.m. about a possible airplane crash in Whitehorn, an unincorporated community in Humboldt County.
When sheriff’s deputies along with other first responders arrived at the crash site, they discovered the three airplane occupants, who had suffered minor cuts and scratches.
The three were identified as a family from Santa Rosa, a man and woman, both 38, and a girl, 2.
During the deputy’s investigation of the incident, they learned that the airplane’s engine lost power about five minutes after taking off from the Shelter Cove Airport.
The pilot immediately began to troubleshoot the lack of engine power, but noticed the plane’s altitude was too low for a recovery, according to the sheriff’s press release.
A tire fell from a plane headed to Japan, forcing passengers to detour to Los Angeles International Airport.
Realizing it was too late to restart the engine, the pilot deployed the airplane’s Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, which slowed the airplane’s descent, the press release said.
The parachute system, which is attached to the top of the fuselage, carried the airplane until it crashed into a tree in a heavily wooded area.
Multiple first responders helped at the scene of the crash, including the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, California Highway Patrol, CalFire, Southern Humboldt Tech Rescue and members of the Whale Gulch, Shelter Cove and Whitethorn fire departments.
On the Shelter Cove Instagram account, the department said this was the second small plane crash it had responded to in the last two years. Both incidents, it stated, resulted in minor injuries and no fatalities, and both aircraft were destroyed.
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