Couple goes MISSING in the middle of the desert. Ronnie and Beverly Barker RV recovery

hey guys this is a bit different video um a lot of you know i do search and rescue i've done it for 20 years and many have asked for me to do some videos on some of the search and rescue this one is more unfortunate it's more about search and recover one of them made it out alive the other didn't so let's dive into this video um it's why i like to build crazy aircraft i've been doing search and rescue by air for a long long time and we brought a lot of people home to their families this one not everyone made it home all right but i do want to talk about what we can do to be better prepared because there's a lot of these situations where everyone can make it home let's dive into this and it's a little different but i hope you like it follow along and learn something from it because there's a lot of people out there that we can help it's physics math and engineering machine it draft it build it test it break it every time something new gets built the entire world advances laying in bed at night it's designing new parts designing new suspension designing new wings [Music] all right guys we just pulled into the airport um it's just after seven in the morning we're on our way out to tone up i've got dave sparks and his team coming down he already sent his equipment up what we're doing today is we had a couple go missing in a motor home word about a missing indianapolis couple is spreading across the country more than a week after their disappearance and they've been missing for over a week i called out i've been in contact with the sheriff's department ron and beverly barker were last seen in nevada two weekends ago on a cross-country road trip [Music] it's like they've disappeared off the face of the earth they have vanished literally into thin air somewhere last sunday night along highway 95 the last hard ping was in cole dale which is south of lunning after that the barker's daughters don't know what happened to them or if they even made it any further down the highway but i contacted them because how long the search was going to see if i could help find the missing motorhome they were going to call me back if they needed help they had a couple other birds in the air and we just got word that they found them unfortunately outcome wasn't great i believe the husband passed away um the wife uh i think was taken of the hospital to be checked um and i don't know much more than that so um at least they've been found um not the best outcome and uh we got great guys we're gonna take the platys we got great guys like dave sparks we're gonna see if we can help now that they've been located but we're gonna go see if we can recover um the rv and the vehicle and get it out and trying to get that off the plate of their concerns about what to do with that so um it's never good to have a search and rescue end this way um but at least they've been found there's closure for the family and um the wife uh as i understand is alive and okay so let's go get the vehicle um i i don't know much more of the detail i don't know if it's easy difficult i i have no details we're gonna find out soon so we're gonna load up on the plattus all the other vehicles are on the way and good work [Music] let's go get a vehicle off the mountain [Music] all right guys we just landed in tonopah we've got two expert recovery guys this uh rescue call out this is a different one for me usually uh search and rescue we're going after the people i was called out on this one i've been in communication with the sheriff's department that was in charge of their search or rescue offering up the helicopter it's a little outside the range i normally go i'm usually southern idaho utah touch into nevada this is kind of in the middle of nowhere which is why i reached out from our search and rescue team to their team to offer up my helicopter to go on the search they had a few birds in the air and they were going to call me back and by the time they reached back out they had found uh the couple unfortunately one has passed and the other is uh being taken care of and we're out here with two superstars at recovering to try and recover the vehicle that was stuck and um what's funny is you got the call to go search for them via the air and we got the email like a day later saying they found the people but the vehicles are in no man's land like nobody essentially everybody they've talked to every wrecker service everybody within a 500 radius said no we're not touching it yeah rvs got shredded tires uh their little kia soul that they were towing is stuck and they are way yeah you know way back up in there so for us today it's we're bringing trucks equipment cables rope tools you name it and this is like half the tools and uh we got to get that rv back up to reno because that's where the old lady is um beverly might be her name um her husband rob wrong but passed away and she can't fly back to indiana for medical reasons so the family's going to drive her in the rv that we have to go get off the mountain so that's why this has become such a time sensitive thing and the fact that you know the poor woman was just you know stuck in the wilderness for 10 or 12 days and then her husband died so it's bittersweet for sure yeah as long as we get to bring them home it's the best the family gets closure and you know this is a unique pair up we've done a few things together recently and become more acquainted and known each other for years this one was kind of odd because we both got pulled into it from two different sides recovery and search and rescue and it was really random when i got the call from dave says hey you got the plattis available we're on this recovery and he told me which one i said i just got the call a couple days ago for the search and uh to kind of pair up naturally on the same uh call out is a lot of fun and on this situation they were gonna either drive six to 12 hours depending on which route they went or get some equipment from somebody close by jumping the plattis and so uh he called me i was in florida he bounced jumped down a plane came straight out here got the gladys loaded up their gear and uh we're gonna go drive up a mountain try and get the vehicle back to the family and try and at least ease the pain and suffering a little bit and uh get them back to a normal life the best they can yeah that's why we loaded up the turbine suburban is that what we'll call the suburban thing is the lattice is nuts i have my epic that i love you guys know we fought all the time the only reason we didn't fly out here because it's uh in annual maintenance right now that's why i called uh i called the babies and they broke the platters which was a much better fit because all that doesn't that's like all the epic all right so you guys never say this on your channel i'm gonna say it on mine enough talking let's go back to work [Music] [Music] remember barb's got all those meatball sandwiches for later all right never mind we're good then [Music] [Music] through here before as well we had a semi truck that decided to take us through death valley national park which doesn't last on my trucks uh in the middle of summertime that was like uh that was i'm a sophisticated guy i think i know what i'm doing i made one little like judgment in in you know error and reading the gps took his way off course and by the time you pass point and no return you realize the fuel all these different things come into consideration so you have to just decide like okay well maybe this is just a you know a little weird little detour we'll just follow it through so i don't know what gps they were following i don't know what route they were taking but so we'll have to get to where they're at now they would have been on roads like this for at least two hours and they were not intentionally going off-roading that was not so true the trip was to like make it through yosemite or something right yeah something like that so i did find out i watched an interview this morning i know everybody wants to know how did they get up there how did they what brought them up there and as a lot of people suspected it was it was bad gps directions they did not have the highway switch on their gps to where it only kept them on highways it would basically take you to the quickest route so it was one of the one of those things where the gps said go this way and they went that way this went on for a while um they were okay they were like okay you know it looks bad but she was like the motor home was doing really good you know the car was bouncing around but you know we were like okay and it kept going to the point that like they weren't even really concerned it was like oh gosh you know we're on this stupid gravel road um but it wasn't like they were uh off-road vehicles you know it was they were just going so basically taking any road on a highway which obviously is what we're dealing with right now and uh the problem was you start getting in here the deeper we're going right now the further away we're going away from anything like we're not getting closer to anything on this this side of the road on the other side of the only closest town is called dyer which is like equal distance away from tonal pot where we landed so this is just one of those no-man's lands out here where there's just nothing and you know they unfortunately i think uh saw some other vehicles out here so i thought maybe this is normal maybe it's just part of the trip this is and you know fortunately his wife is beverly i believe is her name yeah she's still alive so she'll be able to tell her story i know she's already started to tell a little bit here and there but i mean she's still probably going through some severe trauma trying to just get healthy again because you know you're stuck in the mountains for 10 or 12 days with no food or water at that age i messed with you all right we're about halfway on this dirt road for an hour we've got another hour probably to go and uh you get this far out in the middle of nowhere and i mean we are in the middle of nowhere there is nothing within hours uh an hour in every direction and tonopah is almost in the middle of nowhere we're an hour out of there and there's not many places to turn around with a rv and a car in tow and apparently just continue going we have limited information but since uh one of them did survive we are getting some of those stories as we go and getting uh updated but we got another hour to go but just looking at how desolate this is you can see why it took so long for them to be found um there's nobody out here they're just us and i'm glad there's several of us because if you break down you're in trouble [Music] this is just uh we got to bring the rv down this [Music] dave you can't be the driver i've been bringing speed records down there oh my god seriously two wheeling down there no no she can't [Music] [Applause] [Music] you got a bunch of spare tires for the rv right here [Music] you know they they took one turn and then they took another turn and they've eventually got to the point um where where they got stuck we should be able to find it we flew over it with the platys i mean it may not look like much but look how steep this is right now and you get a big rv that's leaning pretty hard they were just trying to get out and get somewhere but man if you look at the train we've been hiking on it's gonna be an interesting drive out some of those angles back there they had to be feeling like they're going to tip over just driving on them and i know you're driving it out it's going to be fun but yeah getting to here and seeing it just switch back that's crazy i bet that was just no disheartening feeling you [Music] [Applause] so this is like the same theme on a lot of the search and rescues i've gone out on it's always nothing until it's everything and where you start down a path or someone starts on a hike or a trail or every single one of them starts out as a normal perfect beautiful day and then it just goes from bad to worse and it's a series of multiple unfortunate events that lead to something like this a blown tire high centered out stuck unload the vehicle that they're towing and then go get that stuck and uh it's literally a daisy chain of events not bad decisions every time it's literally can just be following a map thinking you're doing it right and then getting to a point of no return and then thinking you can continue your way out and that's how these typically end so um it's unfortunate oh man that's right last week all right we got almost exactly a quarter tank but we're tipped pretty steep so i don't know if that how accurate it is [Music] i think it's the right one nice perfect oh man i started to think for a second just watching it all right okay mouth piece of cake you have a good tire and a machine to hook to it you're by yourself you got no options [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] he's [Music] stop [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] one more time there we go [Music] and it was it was late in the night uh sunday night last sunday the 27th and um they decided okay you know they didn't really panic they didn't panic at all they said well we'll just spend the night in the rv and tomorrow we'll get back in the in the kia and we'll drive back down the mountain the way we came no big deal they were so sure of the ability to get down the mountain they didn't think about bringing food or water or blankets we got one rig out we got one more to go there was no way they were coming out of here i don't care how amazing you are off-road or anything you were buried the tough situation here is i i don't know personally i've been in some tight situations we got out of but i've been on a lot of rescue calls where we talked to people about their mindset and their process as they went through getting stuck and probably at this point i don't even know if they were that worried about it probably frustrated at this point they had dented the motor home bent the exhaust up hits a few things broke branches um but nothing serious most people when they get in these situations baby step in they don't really realize they have a problem until it all goes completely south and they took a wrong turn um they lose the tire tracks well that vehicle is where we're going right now um and they got it stuck when the second vehicle got stuck that's when everything sinks in and you realize your backup plan's gone and now you're in real trouble they eventually got stuck all right let's get the kia it um [Music] the story you know it [Music] i don't even know how to put it they um they knew they were in trouble but the story that she told to me was almost like i said it was religious [Music] as as time progressed my uncle who is a very devout christian he would he would see figures from the bible and and took so much comfort in that my aunt beverly who's very immobile if she has to go very far at all she's in a wheelchair where she has to cross a room she's in a cane [Music] she saw snow up on the mountain just you know in the shadows of rocks and there was a ledge i believe she said and she was like there's no way i can get up there but i'll try and repeatedly through the week she would get her she had a walker with her and and she would make it up that up that hill it's about 20 years of doing this it never gets easy it's always something a pair of shoes outfit this one just seeing the walker it's tough it's tough rough deal glad she's back with her family right now so let's get their stuff off this mountain and she would make it back down she said it was cold um she said the nighttime temperatures got down around 27. eventually came to the realization that nobody nobody knew where they were but you know throughout the throughout the entire conversation it wasn't um it wasn't upsetting it was it was almost uplifting um she talked about how beautiful the sky was how just blue and she said you wouldn't believe all the jets that were just crossing the sky but she said the stars were just the most amazing stars you've ever seen in your life but she she said you know we were at peace and as as the days and the nights passed my uncle ronnie told her that he was dying he was dying and she said i know i know you're dying they would they would snuggle in the backseat of the kia and as as as ronnie got worse and worse um uh you know they they were just trying their best to huddle together and to stay warm and uh all along you know he would ask her to read the bible to him and he finally um he finally passed away monday just two days ago [Music] around uh around 3 15 in the afternoon and uh [Music] she was okay with he told her she told him it's okay i know you need to go and uh she said that uh he passed away and and she took a photo of him so that she would remember the exact time and then it became her turn you know um but she she remembered you know that sos that uncle ronnie taught her and uh beeping that horn is what brought rescuers to her you know from there it was just getting off the mountain i'm just amazed at the strength that that woman had up there [Music] i have no doubt that it was the lord carrying her to that water to that snow to make water that kept her alive because she wouldn't be able to to walk across this room let alone the size of a mountain in the desert [Music] oh [Music] a little fixer-upper i don't like that [Music] josh you can hear us i can hear you there the duramax just stopped dead stopping mid beat oh shoot private it'll just crank uh do we need to flip around hanz is coming up i don't know if we shook something loose or whatever but it's uh it's dead dead [Laughter] [Music] hey she's got a big old girl in here block it [Music] is [Applause] looks like the fuel filter came loose so we're priming the engine right now uh we'll let you know what happens uh i think we're gonna hang out here um i just got into cell phone service so we're kind of down to lowland i see a whole line uh probably half mile three-quarters of a mile in front of me well while you were talking it started and then uh we shut the hood of the truck and it died so we're we're working towards it okay party mode [Laughter] [Music] i think we're good [Applause] [Music] bullet idle another bunch of diesel guys get fixed huh [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right guys we're on our way out so we're out of the roughest part we're off all the big back windy roads we've been traveling for over an hour stop got a bite to eat this is the closest thing to a town we've come to we hit asphalt for literally a thousand feet then you look at this sign and we get turn this way and go down this gravel road for another 37 miles this is another hour so we're in the middle of nowhere heading back into the middle of nowhere give us about an hour we'll be back to the plane and head on out [Music] all right guys we just finished the recovery the vehicles are on their way back home they're going up to reno then they'll head back east but uh everything went really well a couple little glitches but quite frankly it went as smooth as it possibly could it's about as good as it gets how logistically challenging that was they were in the middle of nowhere yeah i mean i think we're all in like 12 hours maybe starting to finish which is insane because they had been stuck there for nine ten days yeah nobody in the area was willing to get them that's why these these uh these aircrafts are used as like pickup trucks we literally just transferred like five six hundred pounds worth of tools from the pilatus to the trx now at the back of my br 105 and we're headed home so yeah that's uh that makes all the difference being able to move equipment around like that this guy makes all the difference because he's got a lot of cool stuff so whatever it was it was a good one you know what this uh this is our first recovery together and it was random we actually both got called into the same project at the same time and we've just been hanging out a bit and i'm sure we're gonna do a bunch more of this kind of stuff and being able to share have people in aviation that are happy to share their planes their aircraft to go out and help people you can't have anything better in aviation than guys like that so i'm happy i'm feeling that we can do a lot of recoveries yeah so for sure yeah all right we're gonna get these guys home sunset and it's time to call it quits for the day but uh everything went well we'll hope to see you next time let's get back to work [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Mike Patey

Views: 132,208

Keywords: Air racing, turbulence, Draco, wilga, mike patey, STOL aircraft, Bush Flying, Flying Cowboys, Mark Patey, Mike Patey, Pylon Racing, Patey Twins, Fastest Turbo Prop, Turbine Lancair, Turbine Legacy, Hillside Landing, Crosswind Landings, Water Landings, Water ski airplane, Best tugs, Grip lock ties, Back to work, Carbon Fiber Molds, Carbon fiber layout, how to carbon fiber, custom parts, world record aircraft, experimental, super cub, engineering, how it's made

Id: ZLmPC8fFavM

Length: 35min 12sec (2112 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 21 2022