While it’s true that personal electronic devices these days have many questionable features, and can lead users into a pit of mindless scrolling, they certainly have their place and an incredible modern convenience.
A cell phone and an iPad are the protagonists of this story, as they allowed first responders to find two people in the woods who might have died of hypothermia had they not had the equipment.
The two men were a father, 58, and daughter, 13, who took off Sunday in a Cessna 150 from Pocono Mountain Municipal Airport. .
The single-engine plane came down around 6:30 p.m., crashing into woods at Bear Creek Township State Game in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
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Miraculously both survived the first collision, but the cold took hold of them as they waited in the dark.
According to WNEP-TV, around 8:40 p.m. Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration contacted the Pennsylvania State Police, saying the plane “fell off its radar after a rapid descent.” Authorities initially believed the plane had crashed somewhere in Monroe County.
The US Air Force says the plane landed in Luzerne County, but no one knows where it is. There was a lot of ground to cover, and the rescuers had no idea what the survivors were – if any.
As the search continued, snow began to fall, blanketing the area and turning the white plane into white dust, making it impossible to use drones to locate the downed plane. The heat detectors also didn’t work, as the plane cooled and the father and son went into a hypothermic state.
But thanks to the iPad, the Air Force is back in its rightful place.
John G. Richards with the Pennsylvania State Police said, according to Sgt. WYOU-TV.
“Actually using the pilot’s cell phone and his son’s iPad. And the iPad actually brought us to the crash site.”
Father and son have been together for some time and hypothermia is close to them. When rescuers finally reached them on Monday morning, they expected the worst.
“The truth is, I didn’t expect to find two people alive, I didn’t expect it,” Richards admits. “I thought it was going to be a fatal accident. For 28 years, every accident I touched, that kind of thing, that’s it. There was nothing more shocking than when I looked into their eyes and they saw me. looked away and began to speak. No one surprised me more than him.
“The daughter used her iPad to save them both, and the father hugged the daughter to keep her warm as they were both exposed to the elements and…