Possible plane crash
By Bruce
Gahagan
The call came
late in the afternoon. The initial report was
that there was a downed aircraft in the Sage area
south of Hemet.
Upon arrival
on the scene by RMRU member Walt Walker it was
learned from the reporting sources that a local
had seen a small aircraft at low altitude with
possible engine trouble, fly over and disappear
from sight on a south easterly course from Sage.
After reviewing maps of the local area, teams
were sent out in four wheeled vehicles to get a
fix on the planes emergency locator beacon (ELT).
Earlier in the day the Riverside County Sheriffs
Department aircraft was unable to make a thorough
search of the area because of decreasing ceiling
height.
After several
hours of trying to get a triangulation on the
radio by the teams in the field, the search was
called off in hopes that the morning would bring
clear flying weather for the sheriff department.
It has since
been determined that there was no downed
aircraft; but speculations were made that the
informant just observed a low flying plane or one
that may have been landing on one of the many
privately owned strips in the area.
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