Now throw back to August 1996 and a spectacular plane crash in the Sawtooth Mountain Range, a short distance south of the Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear.

Here is Ranger Hodgson, being quoted in a page-one story in the Enterprise by Larry Rulison and Andy Flynn: “It was kind of like divine guidance.” That was the big headline over the crash story — taking up most of page one.

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Finding the wreckage

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“‘We just kept flying the different drainages,’ said Hodgson, describing the search for the downed plane. He said Ranger Fred LaRow caught a glimpse of the tail section shining through the treetops at around 9:45 a.m. Hodgson said when he saw the crash, he didn’t think there were survivors. ‘It didn’t look like it was possible,’ he said. ‘The plane was so jammed up there.’ He said he’d been involved with almost 20 aircraft rescues over his ranger career.

“‘Everything was packed into one place,’ said Hodgson. ‘Very early in the impact, the wings got folded back in the fuselage. It got crumpled up like an accordion. If it weren’t for LaRow we might have passed right over the site. The crash site was difficult to spot because the swath cut by the crashing plane was so thin.'”

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Bill and Mary Black survive the crash

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“A New Hampshire couple was at the Adirondack Medical Center Thursday recovering from injuries suffered in an amphibious airplane crash Wednesday in the Sawtooth mountain range just south of here. The couple were brought to safety after an extensive search and rescue by the Civil Air Patrol, state police and the Department of Environmental Conservation.

“Bill and Mary Black were flying over the area from Burlington, Vermont Wednesday afternoon when the plane went down. It crashed on the east side of Cold Brook, between peaks No. 1 and No. 2 in the Sawtooth Range at an elevation of 2,952 feet, DEC officials said. State police reported that the plane experienced mechanical difficulties and that the Federal Aviation Administration from Albany is investigating the crash.”

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Mary Black hikes out from the crash site

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“Hours after the plane went down, Mary Black walked off the mountain looking for help while her husband stayed with the crash with chest injuries. On Thursday morning she reached a camp on Kiwassa Road, approximately three miles from the crash site. She contacted the state police in Ray Brook, was picked up and treated at the AMC for contusions and abrasions.

“The plane’s emergency distress signal was initially picked up at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center located in Langley, Virginia. But Air Force officials reported that the plane had no flight plan and was not reported missing by any airport, delaying a rescue.

“Members of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) sent two planes and a rescue team of eight seniors and seven cadets. They called on the DEC and the state police for help.

“Ranger Hodgson helped the CAP members onto the fire truck road that leads to the Duck Hole Pond. Hodgson said, ‘They were using electronic radio directional finding equipment to locate the beacon.’ CAP officials said the mountains made it almost impossible, and additional air crews were brought in to pinpoint the signal. A Vermont air crew located the beacon at 7 a.m. Thursday, according to CAP.

“‘Bill Black had made his way into a clearing while the state police helicopter hovered overhead; we could not believe this guy was OK,’ said Hodgson. Black did not have life threatening injuries. Hodgson added, ‘I believe it was the hull-like construction of the bottom of the amphibious plane that saved the couple.'”

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More details about the background

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In a sidebar about the accident, reporter Rulison said the couple had been vacationing in Vermont with Mr. Black’s parents and left their children — Emily, 13 and Ben, 11 — at a camp there. They decided to fly into the Adirondacks, land on some lake and spend the night in a “fishing lodge.”

Rulison continues:

“Mary, 38, who has short, dark, straight hair and is slender, sat upright in a hospital smock, bruised, bloody and worn; her husband, 44, who has blond, curly hair and wears glasses, was lying on his back under a sheet with a neck brace, bruises covering his body like tattoos.

“Bill had been flying since 1973 and had never been in a crash. Bill began a necessary ascent to land on one of the lakes in what he termed unfavorable flying conditions. ‘The airplane stalled trying to climb in altitude,’ he said. He knew he was going to have to make an emergency landing and tried to land the plane into the tree tops.

“‘Luckily, he said, he kept the nose of the plane pointed up and at an angle.’ The crashing plane cut down a swath of trees. Both wings were torn off, the tail was flipped onto the top of the cabin, and the hull was crushed as the plane turned around on its side.”