Pilot Rescued After 2-Day Ordeal

AP - A high school history teacher survived more than two days dangling from a tree in his single-engine plane after it crashed during a cross-country trip.

Dennis Steinbock, 52, was rescued Wednesday after the Civil Air Patrol detected an emergency signal. He had been in the plane for about 50 hours, had serious injuries to both legs and was dehydrated when he was found in a densely wooded gully.

The cause of the crash was not known.

Steinbock, from Klamath Falls, Ore., was hospitalized and in good condition Thursday in Memphis, Tenn., said Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer. She declined to release further information citing patient privacy laws.

Steinbock's son, Steven, said his father bought the plane in Alabama and was flying it home to Klamath Falls, Ore.

"The Civil Air Patrol saved that man's life," Lafayette County Sheriff Buddy East said Thursday. "They kept calling us ... we went out there and helped but they kept at it. That plane was in a place we couldn't get to without their help."

Dennis Steinbock is a teacher at Henley High School in Klamath County. He has had a pilot's license for about 15 years, his son said, and had taken a commercial flight to Alabama, where he bought a small plane he was planning to fly back to Oregon. He was scheduled to make a fuel stop in Helena-West Helena, Ark.

Steven Steinbock said his father was flying from an airport in Alabama to Lookout, Mo., to refuel.

The Civil Air Patrol had been conducting an air search since Tuesday, when Steinbock did not arrive in Tupelo after making radio contact Monday.

The air patrol detected an emergency signal Wednesday and directed a ground rescue crew to his location, said 1st Lt. Phil Norris, a spokesman for the Mississippi Wing of the CAP.

It took two hours to lower Steinbock to the ground.

The plane was registered to John H. Anderson, of Harpersville, Ala., FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. Steinbock bought the plane from Anderson.