Sean C. Morgan
A helicopter operated by the Croman Corporation on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service successfully removed a crashed plane from Marion Lake, located in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, last week.
Trevor Jordan Schultz, 28, of Lebanon glided the plane into Marion Lake after losing engine power on Aug. 18. He and his passengers were unharmed. The passengers included Tim Lee Miller, 47; Tyrel Miller, 13; and Megan Miller, 12. All are from the Lebanon area.
Schultz was flying a privately owned single-engine 1961 Cessna 172B.
Schultz had departed from the Lebanon Municipal Airport to look for elk hunting areas. The plane began experiencing engine problems and within minutes total engine failure. All four exited the plane as it was sinking and swam to shore. The incident was witnessed by members of a Salem Boy Scout troop camped at the lake. The troop leader led the pilot and passengers to the Marion Lake Trail Head where they were later met by a Linn County sheriff’s deputy.
Schultz’s uncle, Roger Emmert of Sweet Home, owned the plane. Emmert has been flying for about three years. He said Schultz had a percentage of interest in the plane too.
Emmert said that Schultz restarted the motor three times, but the fourth time, it wouldn’t restart.
Schultz started looking for a place to land the plane, Emmert said. Schultz looked at a logging road, but it had large trees alongside, so he started looking at Marion Lake.
He was flying at about 8,000 feet. Marion Lake is at about 3,500 feet, so he had to reduce a lot of altitude, Emmert said. He started gliding in a circle and kept the plane at its ideal speed for gliding, 70 mph.
“They train you what to do in that situation,” Emmert said. He kept it at 70 mph until he got to the water. He made a couple of loops around the lake and got the plane lined out.
Just before the wheels touched the water, Schultz pulled back hard and dragged the tail in the water at 55 to 60 mph.
“You couldn’t do it better,” Emmert said. “It’s hard to go into the water without flipping it. It’s almost impossible.”
Every condition has to be just right, Emmert said. “I think the good Lord was looking out for him too, a little bit of skill, a lot of luck and the good Lord looking out for him.”
On Aug. 25, crews pulled the plane out of the lake and transported it out of the forest to be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
The Croman Corporation of White City used a Sikorsky SH61 to lift the plane out of Marion Lake, said Detroit District Ranger Grady McMahan.
“The lake gets really quite deep in the middle,” McMahan said. The pilot wisely chose to set it down close to shore in about 10 feet of water. By the time it sank, the wings were two or three feet below the surface of the lake.
Another company, Nu Venture Air Services of King’s Valley went into the lake on Aug. 24 to set up the rigging. That crew set up air bladders under the plane to lift it to the surface. Using a horse team, the crew pulled the plane even closer to shore, although it could not pull the plane all the way out.
At about 3 p.m. on Aug. 25, the plane was pulled out by helicopter, McMahan said. Full of water, it initially weighed about 8,000 pounds. Slowly lifting it, the water drained, leaving a 2,500-pound load. Croman took the plane to the trail head where the wings were removed.
The plane was transported away on Friday by truck, McMahan said. The truck stopped by Detroit Ranger District, and staff members were able to see the plane.
Most importantly, no one was hurt in the crash, he said, and then when it came out, there was no damage to the lake or wilderness.
There were no oil spills or leaks and the pristine wilderness lake was maintained with no resource damage, he said.
“It went very smoothly,” McMahan said. “Everything from the actual crash itself, it was amazing.”
“I’m most thankful that everybody’s OK,” Emmert said. “Planes are replaceable, but people aren’t. I want to emphasize how thankful I am that everybody’s OK.”
He had thought and hoped he might get the plane back, he said. It looked hardly damaged under the water, but the tail section broke under the weight of the water as it was lifted out of the lake.
Even after it was extracted from the lake, it must have still had water because the plane weighs only 1,400 pounds empty, Emmert said. “That was a nice little airplane too.”
Emmert said he may get another if he can talk his wife into it.