Plane Crash Recovery, Lytle Creek, CA (1/23/2010)

On Thursday, 01-21-10, the Search Dog Team was notified of a possible human remains detection dog call-out.  A plane, with two on board, had crashed in the foothills of Lytle Creek sometime on Monday.  But the incident was not reported as an over-due flight until Wednesday afternoon.  The flight originated in Las Vegas, and was to arrive in Compton.  Civil Air Patrol was able to locate the wreckage just after midnight, on Thursday morning, near Glen Helen Parkway and Sycamore Canyon Road, just west of I-15.

All the Units met at the Lytle Creek Ranger Station Saturday morning, and loaded into four-wheel-drive vehicles to hit the sloggy, slippery dirt road to the crash site.  The Search Dog Team had four cadaver dogs with handlers, along with members of other Units - SB Mountain S&R, Morongo Basin, Wrightwood, Victor Valley, etc. who all made their way along the forest service road.  The Coroner’s Office and the NTSB planned to enter the crash site to size up the scene prior to our work beginning.  There was airplane debris scattered over in and along a gully.  The fuselage was badly, badly mangled.

The dog teams went out, and grid searchers followed.  We were to flag all aircraft debris, and all human remains we could locate.  The area was covered in our typical thick chaparral and the going was tough in the brush, especially along the steep slopes of the gully.  We had a busy day, and located many small, medium, and of course, large parts for the Coroner’s and NTSB’s use in determining what had happened to the flight, and to its occupants.

A group of us stayed in the field long enough to deliver the two body bags to the road side, leaving the Coroner and NTSB personnel to complete their tasks.