Show Pilot PiRot t Cracks U Up p phen When hen Returning From Holiday Visit Perry Christensen former Spoor Snow College student body president and andson andson andson son of Mrs Cleo O. O Christensen of Manti Mariti narrowly missed death Dec 27 when he became lost in a fog and the light plane he was flying crashed in Salina canyon Mr Christensen and wife the former Helen Thorpe of Ephraim had flown from Grand Junction Colo to spend Christmas at the W. W E. E Thorpe home They had first phoned to ascertain the condition of the Manti-Ephraim Manti airport and were told the runways were free from snow and suitable for land land- ing They found however that this was not so and nearly up when landing The Ephraim City patrol cleared the runways and d Mr Christensen planned to take off for the return trip on Dec 26 but could not lo locate locate locate lo- lo cate the manager of the airport or anyone else who could re-fuel re his plane This day Sunday was a anice anice anice nice day for flying but the next day Monday was foggy and partly cloudy He took off about that morning and expected to be bein bein bein in Grand Junction about two hours later and promised to call his wife at Ephraim as soon as he arrived After more than two hours had passed and no call came his folks became anxious and put in a call to Grand Junction to see if he had arrived While waiting for this call to go through they received a call from Mr Christensen from Emery He planned to go over the mountains mountains mountains moun moun- in the Mayfield canyon pass but ran into fog so headed south and tried to gain altitude Instead he unknowingly lost altitude and crash landed in iri Salina luckily luckily luckily luck luck- ily only about yards from the highway A coal trucker Wayne Anderson of Manti son of Mr and Mrs Ellery Anderson of Ephraim saw the crash and went to the plane which had its wings and propeller propeller propeller pro pro- peller broken in the landing Mr Christensen suffered two bad bruises bruis bruis- es on his head and nose and was badly shaken up but otherwise was not hurt He felt very fortunate to be alive as he might have crashed crashed crashed crash crash- ed in the hidden fog-hidden high mountains mountains mountains moun moun- far from any road and Re fie was poorly clad for such an ordeal He went into Emery and then Continued on last page pagel I PILOT CRACKS UP WHEN WIlEN I. I RETURNING FROM HOLIDAY Y VISIT HERE Continued from page 1 I j. j Mr Anderson brought him back to Ephraim Next day he went to th the scene of the up crack-up dismantled the light pl plane ne loaded it into Mr Andersons Anderson's truck and took it to Grand Junction He then returned x with Mr Anderson and spent the rest of the holidays in Ephraim and Manti after which he and wife returned to Grand Junction by car caron on Monday of this week On December 31 two friends of Mr and Mrs Christensen James Riggs who has charge of the airport airport airport air air- port and flying school at Grand Junction and Mrs Riggs came to spend New Years in Ephraim They flew over the airport in their big Bonanza plane and the runways seemed to be free from snow so they landed only to find that a bank banc of snow from one runway had been l left ft in the other where 2 the two runways cross They hit this bank and almost wrecked their plane They spent the New Year holiday holiday holiday holi holi- day in Ephraim and then flew back to Grand Junction but with witha a quest questionable opinion about the local airport according to W. W E. E Thorpe a |