ELKO COUNTY, Nev. — It was a bit of luck for one pilot that rancher Jordan Brough and his friends knew how to navigate the snowy mountains.
“I saw on the alert, it said it was a pilot, crashed plane. These guys were sitting next to me, and I went back in, and I said, 'Do you guys want to go look for a plane?'" recalled Brough, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter.
For the three ranchers and local Search and Rescue teams, technology that nearly everyone carries with them helped locate the plane crash in the remote parts of the East Humboldt Mountain Range on Sunday. The airplane had hit a mountain at more than 10,000 feet, but luckily, the pilot's iPhone crash notification was sent to dispatch.
The crash detection feature can be found on the iPhone 14 and newer models and allows GPS locations to be shared with the local dispatch center, which can help search and rescue teams respond fast when someone is in need.
“We couldn’t see anything for a long time, and we couldn’t hear the guy, so we almost turned around, but we hollered one more time, and we heard him, so that kept us going," said Ballard Ranches manager Braden Whitaker, who was among those who went out to search for the plane.
iPhone notification helps rescuers find plane crash in Elko County:
“I don’t think we would have found him that day if it hadn’t been for those coordinates," added Jacob Taylor, owner and operator of the Antelope Peak Ranch.
From the mountains to the desert, search and rescue teams are seeing technology advancements to help them during emergency operations.
“People maybe have a watch or a phone or something. It senses the impact, and it calls, activates the 911 system," explained Scott Solle, Vice Commander, Grand County Search and Rescue. "We don’t always know what we’re going to. Sometimes it’s a false alert, but sometimes it’s not. That’s why we have to treat every mission as if we’re going to help someone.”
This time of year, Solle and his team are busy, and tools such as Starlink, inReach, or an iPhone help them do their job.
“I think having one of those things is key because there’s just so much terrain that is not covered by a cell provider," he shared.
But Solle added that the technology only works if you know how to use it, so everyone should be prepared and know what to do in an emergency. Just like this weekend in the Nevada mountains showed, one notification can make all the difference.
“Whether you’re flying a plane or you’re exploring or hunting," said Taylor, "I think that makes, from what I’ve seen yesterday, that could be a life changer, 100%.”
