Airplane Crash in Mountains This Afternoon; Both Occupants Able to Walk from Demolished Cessna

There was a plane crash in our area at about 2pm this afternoon, February 20, though both occupants of the plane have survived and, in fact, were able to walk away from the crash site. According to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, the Cessna 172 was en route to the Big Bear Airport from San Bernardino International Airport when the plane went down about two miles west of Snow Summit resort. The 1978 plane is owned by Randy Darling of Blue Jay, though it is unconfirmed if he was the pilot this afternoon. The two occupants in the plane walked away from the plane, though told Sheriff’s deputies that the craft was demolished. The Sheriff’s Department is doing a helicopter sweep of the area, which is an unspecified location about two miles west of Snow Summit, to further investigate the crash. The Big Bear Airport tells KBHR that the plane’s Emergency Locator Transmitter did not prompt a warning at the airport, perhaps due to the ELC having been inoperable. Update as of 3:30pm: The Sheriff’s Department has since located the two men, both in their 40s, in a heavily wooded area southwest of the dam on the San Bernardino National Forest. Given the terrain, they will be picked up via helicopter. Despite damage to the plane, there are no reports of injuries to the two occupants. The National Transportation Safety Board willbe investigating the crash.