Man in car survives a 200-ft fall into canyon

Man survives for a week in remote canyon

Alive with broken bones, drinking from a stream, eating bugs and leaves.

Kind of makes you want to go outside to the car and check your gear again, doesn't it?

Kudos to the daughter who did her own detective work and searching. They called for help after finding him. VERY nice job!

And if his daughter hadn't done that?

Sue

I have a mini-REI in my SUV -- including food, water, Micropur tabs and purifier -- so if I survived the crash in reasonable shape, I'd have a fighting chance.

What really does jump out of that article is the daughter's own sleuthing and persistence that saved her father's life.

Thanks for posting the link. It is sobering to consider that we're all just a missed turn away from a very dire situation.

that is impresive story of survival.

I'd hope that my family would have the presence of mind to look for me in a similar situation.

Kind of interesting that the family had to do the leg work. Where were the authorities during all this?

HJ

Wow, the guy was really lucky to survive.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44727021/n...-plunges-cliff/

Determined, smart family.


So, what would YOU have done in this man's situation?

Create a smoke fire during the day? Use a mirror? A whistle or even an air horn probably wouldn't be heard by the passing cars. Hmmm, better recheck my car kit.

The most intriguing aspect to me was the second car. They don't mention much about it in the article - but in the video the firemen on the scene called for a helicopter evac for the old guy, but not for the second dead driver because he "had obviously been dead more than six days". That implies that these are two different accidents in the same location. That is pretty amazing.

So far, no details on the other driver, but it sounds like that's going to be a whole other chapter to this story.

One other tidbit that came out in the British press was that the old guy took the eyeglasses off the dead body so he could see. Nice improvisation there

Nice one on the glasses.

HJ

These accidents happen from time to time. I can recall two such on the Mt. Lemmon Highway near Tucson some years ago. A car and a motorcycle (separate incidents) left the roadway where there was no guard rail, hence no visible trace of an accident. We removed the cyclist's remains six weeks after the accident. The victims in the car were found over a month after the accident.

In cases like this, where do you begin your search? and on what basis? Cell phone records can help pinpoint areas today, but what if the phone has not been active?

One take-home message for me:

Essential safety gear (including communication items and extra eyewear) should be up to date and secured inside the car, so they can be located and used after an emergency.

1. He found a flare in the other car, but it was expired.

2. He had a cell phone, but he could not find it.

3. He used the other drivers glasses to see.

Hence, my rationale for having two PLB's. One is in the backpack that always stays in the truck. The second is tied into my aviation survival vest.

Stuff happens.

Another article said that it was a county sheriff detective who did some of the pinpointing for them, and they did the legwork.

He was lucky that there was a stream nearby. From my faint memory of the area, its kind of dry, esp this time of year. I wonder if, in the future, he will carry more gear and supplies? Nothing brings the point home more than an incident like this!

We all talk about telling people where we're going when traveling or hiking, but this happened when the guy was apparently just going from Point A to Point B, something we all do fairly regularly. We aren't likely to leave a message about that on our kitchen table, or ask someone to call for help if we don't show up by 3:30.

When one car practically lands on the car of a previous accident, I would think that particular spot needs a barrier. I wonder how many other accidents have happened there?

Sue

They identified the second driver today...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/10/01/2_crashes_2_missing_men_2_different_results/

He had been there a week before the second crash and was "badly decomposed".

Can you imagine... You plunge off a cliff and at the bottom of the cliff is another car and badly decomposed body? That must have been very demoralizing... almost like a living hell of sorts. Sounds like something from a horror movie.

Time for a guard rail at that location....

In an car accident, stuff gets broken/ moved around / lost. I keep an old cell phone & charger in the truck -- for dialing 911. In this case its unlikely that cell service would have worked, but its worth $5 to keep a phone + charger handy.

Bad Karma: you go off the road, are badly injured, can't leave, can't contact anyone, and your only shelter is right next to a smashed car with a stinking dead man in it.

About cell phones: first off, everyone knows that a cell phone doesn't need active service, it only needs a charged battery to call 911, right?

I am very vague on how cell phones work. From what I understand (perhaps mistakenly), a signal is transmitted from a satellite to a cell tower, and then to a cell phone. If you're not in line-of-sight with a tower, you don't get a signal. Right? So why is it that I can stand in my yard and not get a signal, and a few minutes later, I can be still in the same spot and get 3 bars? Is it the movement of a satellite that has that effect?

Sue

deleted

Sue,

Keeping in ming that I work for the cell company with the ampersand in the title, you can trust what I am about to give you:

Starting from the handset in your paw, the call is converted into a digital signal (one's and zero's) and then transmitted via radio frequency (RF) signal to the closest serving tower for your carrier (often not the single closest tower).

From the tower antenna, (on 2G and 3G networks) the signal comes down the tower in copper coaxial cable and into the radio infrastructure equipment. There it is converted from RF to fiber optic signal path or copper cable path from the cell site to the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) landline central office and into the public switched network. On a 4G/LTE network the radio is on the tower, and fiber optic cable replaces the coax down the tower, providing a faster path into the Fiber PSTN.

Once into the public switched telephone network (PSTN) it goes to your carrier's Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). Then back into the PSTN to either the land line you called, OR to the MTSO of the cell phone you called (if another carrier) and back down a reversal of the chain I just described. This all assumes your call stays in the same local area (like Seattle). The story gets longer if it is a call to another area (Seattle to LA)

Take note, the towers do not talk to each other wirelessly (they can, but it is rare enough not to discuss), AND the satellite does not come into play (except for timing and GEO Location for E911).

That was the quick and dirty version. I can get deeper, but probably not right for here.

I thought that was a great explanation for the question posed.

This has nothing to do with satellites.

There are two possible explanations. One is that something happened to the RF environment nearby, like a source of interference changed. The other, more common event is that the tower in range was too busy to let you connect to it, and then one of the calls dropped off or moved to a different tower.

Okaaaaay... I kind of understand. It's more complicated than I thought.

But why can I get a good signal a couple of minutes after not being able to at all, or vice versa?

I guess it's not the same as two cans and a string, is it?

Darn! It's that complicated electricity stuff again, isn't it?

Or magic.

But thanks for the explanations. And it's nice to hear your 'voice' again!

Sue

I'd like to know what their birthdays are and if there is a strange coincidence of being born on the same day 20 years apart.

Given that my life is full of coincidences, I would believe so. However, because my life is full of coincidences, it does not mean that his is.

Jeanette Isabelle

Knowing that area, it's amazing the stream had any water. It appeared from brief TV coverage that there was a small dam there?
Reminded me to update my wife's car kit (food expired) and consider a few bottles of water.

Reminds me also of the book "Trapped!" Not the best written book, but based on a true story and a good learning experience/read.

While there are more likely scenarios where it would help as well, cases like this do highlight the potential life-saving uses of OnStar. And now that they have their add-on product (OnStar FMV), its an option for everyone not just GM owners.

Frankly, the chance of being in a vehicle related emergency is probally much higher than being in a backcountry emergency, so I wonder if OnStar is a better investment than a PLB or SPOT (not that its an either / or scenario).

How does OnStar work? Like a cell phone, satellite phone, or some other way?

Sue

Good question. For some reason I thought it was satellite but looking at this coverage map I guess it uses the cellular network. That does limit its usefulness somewhat ...

OnStar is cellular only, and I don't know which carrier or carriers.

Also, GM leaves it turned on to sell your location data to people, even if you should cancel the service.

inspiring story keep the spirit alive.......













"OFF THE GRID ON THE GRIND"

I can't tell you the name, but I can say: "Can You Hear Me Now" while looking at "The Map for That". . . .

You're on your own.