By KIRBY ROSS

Phillips County Review

For the second time in five months, a plane crashed in Phillips County. Both times, people who were in the planes have survived, thanks to the efforts of Phillips County emergency responders battling Mother Nature.

The most recent crash happened Saturday afternoon on the farm of Daryl Clark, 1 mile east and 4 miles north of Logan. The experimental 1990 single engine VariEze aircraft, piloted by Michael Wade Westendorf, 42, Olathe, was en route from Atwood to Lee's Summit, Mo.

As an apparent electrical fire caused the cockpit to fill with smoke, the pilot attempted to make an emergency landing on West 1100 Road. With power lines crossing the immediate area, the plane was unable to set down on the roadway and instead plowed into the ditch and flipped, breaking off both wings before coming to rest a short distance away in a crumpled mass of metal.

It is believed the crash occurred between 2 and 2:30 p.m., and that Westendorf lay unconscious for a couple of hours. When he woke up, broken bones made it impossible for him to move from the scene. Fortunately, he had a cell phone close at hand and called 911, with the call coming in to the Phillips County Sheriff's office at 4:50 p.m.

Westendorf was not certain of his location, telling the dispatcher that he thought he was 35 to 45 miles east of Atwood (he was 90 miles east), and that all he could see was a farmhouse, oil tanks, hay bales and power lines. He also reported seeing vehicles driving down a nearby road (which would turn out to be Thunder Road).

The cell phone carrier was contacted, which attempted to triangulate the pilot's position, initially determining him to have come down somewhere near the Norton and Decatur County line.

After about an hour, the battery of the cell phone gave out, putting an end to the communication with the injured man as well as the efforts to locate him via the phone signal.

In the meantime, the U.S. Air Force Search and Rescue Center in Florida, the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, and the Federal Aviation Administration in Wichita became involved, resulting in possible crash-site coordinates of 2 miles southeast of Phillipsburg being relayed to the sheriff's department.

Following an unsuccessful large-scale search of that area, another possible crash site, this one in Rooks County, was relayed by the Search and Rescue Center to searchers.

With the efforts now focusing farther south, Phillips County rescue units headed into north-central Rooks County to assist with the search.

As this was going on, the United Air Force Search and Rescue Center transmitted a possible crash site location of near Clayton, which is 45 miles east of Atwood on the Norton-Decatur County line, resulting in a hold being put on the search and rescue efforts taking place farther east.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., the Air Force Search and Rescue Center advised Phillips County dispatch the coordinates were recalculated and the pilot's location was believed to be within a 10-mile radius of the intersection of West 500 Road and West Victory Road in Phillips County, which is 1 mile north of Speed.

This vector turned out to be the accurate one, with the downed plane subsequently being located approximately 6 miles northwest of the center point of the radius provided.

As the local search resumed, it included the sheriff's office, Phillips County Rural Fire Department, Logan Fire Department., REACT volunteers and others. In addition, consideration was being given to sending up an airplane with heat-detecting equipment from the Kansas Highway Patrol, but was rejected due to overcast conditions and rainfall.

The new search area had a number of dirt roads crossing through it. Despite the rain that had been falling all day, the nature of the search and the inability to get a search airplane in the air required Phillips County responders to travel up and down those mud-saturated roads, often with great difficulty.

Finally, at 1:15 a.m. Sunday morning, members of the Logan Fire Department located the plane at the edge of a wheat field approximately a quarter-mile north of the intersection of West Thunder Road and West 1100 Road.

Phillips County EMS was dispatched, and Westendorf was treated at the scene and transported to Phillips County Hospital.

He later was airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, Neb., where he is being treated for his injuries. He was listed in fair condition as of Monday morning.

This search and rescue by Phillips County emergency personnel follows closely on the heels of another difficult plane crash response that happened in a field covered with snow more than a foot deep south of Phillipsburg on Dec. 16. That effort resulted in the rescue of two injured airplane passengers who were subsequently airlifted to the burn center in Wichita, one in critical condition. Both passengers in that crash also survived.