Motorists Ignored Pilot Seeking Help After Crash

SILVER CITY, N.M. — The North County pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed near Lordsburg says he walked 5 miles for help only to be ignored by motorists along Interstate 10.

John Mahan, 36, of Vista was flying an inspection patrol over southwestern New Mexico to check natural gas pipelines when his 1979 Piper aircraft stalled 200 feet above the ground.

Mahan crash-landed at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on flat terrain 5 miles north of I-10 and 47 miles east of the Arizona state line, state police said. He suffered a broken jaw, a broken finger, a sprained ankle, bruises and facial cuts.

After a 3 1/2-hour hike across the desert, Mahan said Wednesday, he had to wait 45 minutes before a car would stop to help him.

“I don’t blame them,” he said of the drivers who passed him by. “I looked pretty scary. My face was swollen and I had blood all over me.”

A Volkswagen passenger van finally came to Mahan’s rescue, taking him to Lordsburg. Paramedics took Mahan to Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, where he was in stable condition Wednesday night.

Mahan said he expected to return home today.

The airplane, belonging to Union Flights of Sacramento and based in Carlsbad, was destroyed in the crash.

Mahan said he was attempting a left turn when the engine stalled.

“It happened so fast,” Mahan said. “It was like one of those nightmares you have. You just can’t believe it happened.”

Mahan said the plane’s radio broke and the windows shattered on impact and then fuel spilled into the cockpit.

Mahan said he had taken off Tuesday morning from Lordsburg, stopped for fuel in Deming, then flown over the El Paso, Tex., area. He was returning to Lordsburg to refuel for the trip home when the accident occurred.