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American Morning

Two Tourists and Pilot of Single-Engine Cessna Crash

Aired January 11, 2002 - 07:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It was supposed to be a short sightseeing trip lined (ph) above Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Instead of cruising, two tourists and the pilot of a single-engine Cessna crashed. Now the story could have ended there, but it didn't. There was an attempt at a rescue, then another crash, this time the rescue helicopter. In the end, after an incredible 20-hour saga it was a story of survival.

Keith Routh was on the helicopter when it crashed. Keith joins us now from Durango, Colorado. Thanks for being with us this morning Keith.

KEITH ROUTH, RESCUE VOLUNTEER: You bet.

COOPER: My understanding is you were actually in the doorway of the helicopter above the plane when the helicopter went down. What happened?

ROUTH: Yes, I was preparing to exit the helicopter to be wrenched out on a cable and inserted into the crash site to retrieve the two victims.

COOPER: What do you think happened to the helicopter?

ROUTH: We got down into a boxed canyon. We got a little low, maybe 60, 70 feet, and there wasn't enough air movement over the helicopter there and so we lost our tail power, and started to spin and crash (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COOPER: When you say boxed canyon, do you mean there wasn't enough air to actually support the weight of the helicopter?

ROUTH: Right. It's a very closed canyon so there wasn't air moving in towards us, and as we lowered into it, then, the air around the helicopter is twirling from the helicopter blades and so we only have moving air in there from sideways, not from forward, and ...

COOPER: I understand the ...

ROUTH: ... across the tail ...

COOPER: ... I understand the Air Force pilot was dumping fuel as you were going down. I mean did you get - did you think you were going to survive? ROUTH: There was a little bit of question. It - we started to spin once and they caught it, and I felt better about that, and then the second spin started, then they dumped fuel and we spun three times on the way down taking out a few trees.

COOPER: Had you ever gone through anything like this before? You've been a rescue volunteer for awhile now.

ROUTH: I've been in a lot of rescues, and I've picked up pieces like this, but I hadn't been inside one before.

COOPER: What happened after the helicopter landed? I mean I know everyone on board was all right. What did you do then?

ROUTH: We had to get away from the site because we had dumped out fuel. We didn't want to be around that, so we got away from the helicopter and hiked up a ridge and found a better place to spend the night, a little bit drier, got a fire going, and sat around the fire all night trying to stay warm.

COOPER: How did you stay warm? I mean did you have food? Did you have blankets? Did you have (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

ROUTH: No, we had some snacks, you know, in our packs and we had plenty to drink, but we didn't have any blankets or anything extra like that - just the clothes we had on our backs and you know our rescue packs.

COOPER: And then morning came, you survived the night, then what happened?

ROUTH: Some of our rescue team from La Plata County reached us on foot and we evaluated some different ways out of there. We didn't think that there were any suitable landings (UNINTELLIGIBLE) around there based on our experience, so we hiked out for about two and a half hours to get up on top a ridge where we could go out either by snow cat (ph) or by helicopter to the hospital.

COOPER: And another helicopter had gone to rescue the two people in the Cessna?

ROUTH: Right. Yes. We had marked that location for them and they were able to get in there first thing in the morning and get them out easily.

COOPER: All right, Keith, it is very nice to see you this morning. I'm very glad that everything turned out well for you and as well as the other survivors of both crashes. Thanks very much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.

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