"Mom, would you come pick me up please?"
Survivors of Ark. plane crash text for aid
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BIG FLAT, Ark. -- Unable to use their wireless phones to call for help in a conventional way, the pilot and passenger of a small plane that crashed in the rugged Ozark National Forest used text-messaging to contact their parents, who summoned help.
Adam Young, 22, and passenger Brittney Cozart, 19, had flown from Little Rock to a northern Arkansas resort for lunch Sunday and were returning when Young was forced to crash land the single-engine Cessna, Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said.
Cozart text-messaged her mother, who first contacted authorities, Montgomery said. About an hour later, Young was able to message his father with the downed plane's location.
"When we received the coordinates, that's when we could focus the search," Montgomery said in a telephone interview Monday.
Authorities could not say why the text messaging worked when communication by voice was blocked, but noted they operate on different bandwidths. Officials also cited the mountainous terrain.
Rescue helicopters flew Young and Cozart to hospitals. Young was listed in good condition Monday. No information on Cozart's condition was available.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash.