It’s not everyday you get to sort of “plan ahead” for any sort of search activity. But having known for a week that on Saturday you are going to rappel, ascend, and traverse into a plane wreckage site, you spend some time getting your gear together. I certainly needed to, and was glad I did.
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| From Katz Site |
Saturday morning myself and three other members of the San Bernardino Mountain SAR Team (Lucy Durfee, Anthony Ortega, and Bill Kirschner) met four members of the West Valley SAR Team at aviation in Rialto. The eight of us briefed, geared up, and safety checked. The pilot who first spotted the wreckage explained that at first glance he thought it nothing, but his better judgment told him to make a second pass. On his second pass he knew he had found something.
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| From Katz Site |
Now prepared for the rest of the day, we lifted off from aviation and set down atop a peak near the Middle Fork of Lytle Creek. Our pilot circled and tried to point out were the wreckage was, but I couldn't spot it. Once we had all been dropped off we began our first rappel, which brought us to the aircraft. I don't think any one of us could have guessed how well intact the plane would still be. It was mostly in one piece, only missing a wing, which was further down the embankment. The plane itself turned up few results in our search for human remains, just a few fragments of bone lodged in the windshield (thought to be fingertips). Most of what could be retrieved from the plane had already been taken possession of during the previous Sunday's search and recovery.
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| From Katz Site |
Seven years of being exposed to the elements would have surely moved things down hill a bit. So we began our second rappel, bringing us now to the wing and where the more substantial evidence would hopefully be located. With a pretty tight grid search through the valley were the wing was located, we turned up a Sam's Club Card (with Daniel Katz' name on it), a twenty dollar bill (which didn't buy lunch), a shoe (to mach the one we had brought back the Sunday before), and two larger pieces of vertebra. Clearly anything that would have come from the wreckage had been washed through this peaceful, quiet valley.
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| From Katz Site |
Now to ascend back to the top, return to aviation, log our findings for the coroner, and return home. A successful day, hopefully bringing some closure to the Israeli family that lost their son here seven years ago.