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After crash, son shines in mom's eyes Photo by Jim Craven Patti Palmer watches her 11-year-old son, Christopher, talk at a press conference about the plane crash he and his father and sister survived Sunday. Their plane went down in a mountainous area east of Ashland. When plane wreck hurt father, sister, boy sought help By SARA MURPHY Christopher Palmer says he doesn't feel like a hero. In his mother's eyes, that's exactly what he is. The California fifth-grader took care of his injured father and sister and hiked for help after their small plane crash-landed Sunday evening in a mountainous area east of Ashland. "He's only 11 years old, but as far as I'm concerned, he has the heart of a lion," said the boy's mother, Patti Palmer. Christopher and his sister, Stephani, 13, were passengers in the rented 1977 low-wing Piper plane piloted by their father, John Kenneth Palmer, whom friends call Ken. The family from San Jose, Calif., was flying to Medford to visit friends during spring break, Patti said. After the plane crashed, Christopher hiked about a mile through the woods and forded a creek to try to get help for his family. After attempting to flag down passing motorists on Highway 66, he headed back in the dark to wait out the night with his family. Rescue crews, using devices to track signals from the plane's emergency locator transmitter, found the family shortly after 3 a.m. Monday. Patti and her brother, Randy Blacker of San Jose, drove to Medford after hearing the news. "Yesterday, I was woke up by a call from my son at 4 in the morning," Patti said Tuesday. "I had no idea they had crashed." When rescuers found them, Ken and Christopher were able to walk away from the wreckage. Stephani was carried out by rescuers. Ken was upgraded Tuesday from fair to good condition at Rogue Valley Medical Center. Stephani remained in fair condition with fractured vertebrae in her lower back. Both are expected to recover fully, the family said. Christopher was treated and released Monday. He suffered cuts and bruises and an abrasion extending across his neck and chest from the seat belt. Christopher said his father had only a few minutes to react after the plane lost power. He radioed the Seattle Air Traffic Control Center shortly after 7 p.m. to report he was low on fuel and experiencing engine problems, said Jackson County Sheriff's Sgt. Ken Curtis. "We looked for an airport, but there wasn't one in range, so we just looked for a field," Christopher said. "We were going to try for (Highway 66), but we didn't have any speed to get there." The plane landed in a small field about two miles from the Pinehurst Airport, about a mile from Highway 66. Blacker said his brother-in-law is an experienced pilot who probably flew the plane between trees on purpose, tearing off its wings in an effort to slow its landing. Christopher said his dad was semi-conscious after the crash but managed to kick out the windshield. Christopher and Ken pulled Stephani out of the plane and packed pillows around her to keep her warm. Ken was apparently drifting in and out of consciousness. "He said, 'I'm kind of woozy right now and I'm not going to be too bright,"' Christopher said. The boy decided to go for help. He climbed to the top of a hill, where he spotted a house. He scrambled over a couple of fences and crossed the cold waters of Jenny Creek. But when he knocked on the door, nobody answered. The boy followed the driveway to Highway 66, where he tried to wave down two passing cars. Neither stopped, but one driver called 911. Frustrated, and because it was getting dark, Christopher decided to go back to his family and wait for morning. Meanwhile, the Oregon State Police had received a report shortly after 8 p.m. that an emergency locator transmitter signal was coming from the Pinehurst area. Jackson and Klamath County search and rescue crews and four OSP officers searched the area through the night, eventually targeting the crash by triangulating the places where they were able to pick up on the transmitter's signal. "It was kind of lucky that we found them," Curtis said. "Our search guys did a great job in triangulation and that's the reason they were found." Curtis said it's rare to find survivors in small plane crashes. "Everybody was very surprised, I think, that they found survivors," he said. Patti, who thanked rescue workers and hospital staff, said she's proud of her son's effort to take care of the family. Christopher credits his dad's piloting skills for saving their lives. He hopes to fly, too, someday. "I want to get my pilot's license as soon as I can, even with this," he said. "That's just the way things happen sometimes." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA