From Bad Comes Good
“Ex Malo bonum” From bad comes good, St. Augustine. In March of 1967, Pilot Al Oien, his wife and teenage daughter, Carla, landed successfully on a snow field in the Trinity Mountains when their Cessna 195 airplane iced up and was unable to fly further. Though a flight plan had been filed, efforts to locate them were unsuccessful.
Broken Plane Found
It was not until October that the broken plane was found by a couple in the mountains looking for deer. There on the wing of the plane they found the packet of letters and a diary Carla and her mother kept during the 50 days they lived in the broken plane waiting to be rescued. Their contents have never before been published in full. Readers will find in FINDING CARLA a “…captivating tale about aviation judgement, the will to survive and the aviation community’s enduring ambition to make flying safer for all.” (Rod Machado, author speaker, and flight instructor).
Even in the tragedy it became, the Oien’s family legacy had a beneficial aspect? This 1967 accident led to effective requirements for airplane emergency radio-beacon locators (ELTs) that have since saved thousands of lives.
Review written by Viola Nixon, library board member and mother of the author, Ross Nixon.
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