The Region - News from April 7, 1987
A team of divers began trying to recover the bodies of two men killed when their light plane crashed into the Colorado River 35 miles south of Needles. San Bernardino County officials said pilot Rocky David Tolman, 28, and his passenger, Douglas Lee Casper, 37, both of Fort Mojave, Ariz., died when Tolman’s Cessna 182-Q hit a high-voltage power cable stretched across Topock Gorge. Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Bryant said eight members of the Rancho Cucamonga Swift Water team were attempting to bring the wreckage to the surface by attaching large bags filled with air. He said the plane left Needles Municipal Airport en route to Bullhead City, Ariz., but struck the cable, which runs about 50 feet above the river, breaking into two sections. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
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