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October 18, 2005

Big Excitement in Big Flat

A small plane crashed north of Big Flat, and the passenger used text messaging to direct rescuers to the crash site. (Registration req'd)

Brittney Cozart of Maumelle was a passenger in the single-engine plane that went down Sunday in a remote area of the forest in Baxter County. Despite being hurt, she sent a text message to her mother in central Arkansas.

Cozart’s mother called the Baxter County sheriff’s office about 3 p. m. That was the first authorities heard of the crash.

Cozart and the pilot, Adam Young, 22, of North Little Rock were injured when the private plane plummeted into a ravine in the rugged Leatherwood Wilderness Area north of Big Flat. The couple had just left a popular resort area in Baxter County and were returning to North Little Rock.

They were lucky. I'm familiar with that area, used to live in Big Flat, and have hunted in and around Leatherwood. That's some wild-assed country. If I were to give directions, they would be something like 'go to BFE and take a left. Go past 10 miles past The Middle of Nowhere, and take the next right.'

“The terrain was so rugged and so overgrown down in the national forest that the wreckage could not be seen from the air, and that hampered the search,� the sheriff said.

“We were actually in the area and knew we were close, but the terrain was just so rugged that not even four-wheelers could be used at that time.�

The pilot was eventually able to text message his coordinates to his dad, who relayed them to the searchers. He also made his way to a clearing and used his shirt to signal the searchers who were flying overhead.

Just think. If not for their cell phones, those people would probably never have been found....or at least not that quickly. Though frankly, knowing that area, I'm surprised they were able to get a sufficiently strong signal to even send a text message.

A couple of very lucky people.

I noticed in the article that the Searcy Co. Search & Rescue team were helping with the search. Hell, I can't even type that without laughing. My sis tells me that the 'team' is composed of many of the same people who are also First Responders. And many of them are complete and total....well, goobers. My kids' dad (or 'biological male progenitor' as we like to call him) is one of them. Here's why I can't keep from laughing every time someone mentions them.

Years ago, back when the First Responders first got started, one of the local cops wiped out during a pursuit and slid up against the gas pumps at the White Oak Station. The First Responders arrived promptly at the scene and start working feverishly to extricate the cop because the driver's side door was jammed. My ex, for some reason no one understands, took a knife and cut the valve stem off of every tire on the vehicle. The others were using the Jaws of Life in an attempt to peel the roof off the vehicle. Another cop, I believe it was, arrived on the scene.....and pointed out that the passenger's side door was open. D'oh!

Yeah. I'm not kidding. They pretty much demolished the car trying to get the driver out when the passenger's side door was standing open.

That cracks me up every time I think about it.

Posted by Rita at October 18, 2005 08:01 AM

Comments

See, cutting off the valve stems magically opened the passanger door.

Posted by: bogie at October 19, 2005 03:27 AM

I'm sure he thought it made sense at the time....though I can't imagine why. He was never one to keep his head in an emergency (at least when we were married, I dunno about now), so it's kinda funny that he's now an EMT/First Responder, etc.

Not haha funny, but weird funny.

Posted by: Rita [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 19, 2005 05:26 AM