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By Andrea Dujardin-Flexhaug
THE SMALL PLANE was going to crash on the side of a mountain – and that is the last thing pilot Doug Fossen remembers.
The weather had started out fine on Friday, April 17, and Fossen – a rancher who lives in the Rock Creek area about 40 minutes east of Osoyoos – had been heading to a bull sale in Williams Lake.
He had checked the weather and then filed his flight plan with Flight Services
out of Kamloops, and took off at about 8:30 am from the family ranch in his
one-engine Fleet Canuck plane.
Meanwhile, his wife Erika and three young girls went about their daily routine
of chores and school.
Doug, who had flown many times before, encountered bad weather at Summerland,
and decided to turn back. He landed in Oliver, phoned home at 10:55 am to check
with Erika about the weather there; then he headed back out for the short
flight further south to the ranch.
Two hours later, Erika – who was then at their daughters’ nearby school helping out with lunch – phoned the ranch. Doug should have been back long before – and he did not answer.
She then tried his cell phone – and, she told BCCN, will never forget his words:
“Erika, I’ve crashed, I’m on the side of a mountain. I’ve hurt my head and my hand, but I’m not going to die.”
She thought he was joking – but then he repeated the words. When she hung up, Erika started shaking – and then phoned 911.
“I remember asking the Lord to help us find him, and to be with him, over and
over again.”
Doug had set out from Oliver and encountered fog along the way over the
mountainous terrain.
“I sort of remember going into fog and thinking I have to keep it straight and
level so I don’t go upside down,” he recalled.
He became disoriented, and the last thing he remembers is trees and snow coming
up fast, then nothing. Strangely enough, he does remember how he felt at the
time: not worried that he was actually going to die.
”I had faith in God, that he would look after me,” he said.
Doug had crashed sideways on a steep slope, directly into the side of a
mountain, about 10 miles from their ranchhouse.
“I’m sure what saved me was [that] there was three feet of snow on the ground – and just that [I] didn’t hit any trees, too.”
He remembers waking up in his pilot seat next to the plane, with a plastic sheet
over his shoulders – and all of his first aid survival equipment around him.
“Like when I woke up, I thought: ‘Oh, somebody’s been really busy around here.’”
He soon realized he must’ve done it all himself.
“I was so thankful that I had my cell phone, and Erika was able to talk to me
right away – and she knew that I was alright. It was just a miracle that I actually had cell
service up there.”
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It took about five hours for a legion of emergency personnel to find Doug, due
to the rough terrain; but eventually, one of the helicopters did. At 6:30 pm,
two rescuers lifted Doug into safety for the flight to the hospital.
He was treated for a concussion, receiving a few stitches for a forehead injury
from hitting the plane’s dashboard; and some broken bones in his right hand required six permanent
screws, and a cast.
It wasn’t long before he returned home to the ranch, to recuperate in the arms of his
relieved wife and three young girls.
“It made me so thankful to the Lord that he was so kind to save Doug,” said Erika. “One asks: Is a heartfelt ‘thank-you’ to God enough, or does he require more?”
It was later discovered that, at 12:15 pm that day – just as the plane was hitting the mountain – Erika’s mother had been praying specifically for all of her family members by name.
She and Erika’s father had been at a funeral service, where the pastor had stopped proceedings
to request that attendees pray for loved ones.
”And that was right the exact time that I crashed,” said Doug, “so I really think that was huge. I think God was in control of it.”
The crash was still a fresh event for Doug, at the time of this interview; he
spoke quietly and with pauses, trying to fill the gaps in his memory.
On this day, he was also stressed by another setback: his wife had fallen off
her horse that morning, and was in the hospital with a broken wrist. She, too,
would get a cast on her right hand, to match her husband’s.
With cattle to brand and a working ranch to run, spring is a busy time for them.
But the burden was being eased by helpful neighbours, friends and church
family, and they were grateful for that, and all the many prayers that have
come their way.
“I know that Jesus had a hand in all the events – where [Doug] crashed, missing trees and rock, the insulation of the snow, his
survival skills,” said Erika. “I will ask God someday if an angel was sitting beside him, helping him through.”
Several weeks after the crash, the family went to Sunday services at Osoyoos
Baptist Church. Doug and Erika took the opportunity to speak some words of
gratitude to God, and to the congregation for their support.
Erika expressed her thankfulness to God through the hymn, ‘My Tribute’ by Andrae Crouch.
She sang: “The voices of a million angels / could not express my gratitude. / All that I am
and ever hope to be, / I owe it all to Thee.”
June 2009
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