Fallbrook resident renders aid to Oceanside plane crash victims

Kim Harris

Managing Editor

It was just a normal day for U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Morgan Vohs as he made his way home to Fallbrook Thursday, Feb. 24, until he saw the unthinkable.

Vohs, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton, saw an airplane operated by a skydiving company crash just short of reaching the Oceanside Municipal Airport.

"It took me about half a second to realize what had happened," Vohs told San Diego's NBC 7. "My response was...fight. Get in there. Help them."

The single-engine Cessna 208B Caravan came down about 12:45 p.m. about a half-mile east of the general-aviation airfield near Mission Avenue and state Route 76, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and Oceanside Police Department.

"Vohs ran across a highway and field to get to the plane within one minute of seeing the plane come down," Patti Thompson, whose soon to be son-in-law was the pilot of the plane, posted on social media. "This man is a real hero. So is the Army soldier who showed up within 30 seconds of Morgan."

That Army soldier was later identified as Army Sgt. Christopher Gordon, also commuting home when he witnessed the crash.

"I turned onto 76, off Douglas Road, and noticed all the parachutes in the sky, which is a common sight in that area," Gordon told NBC 7. "And then I saw the skylight plane. What I thought was trying to dive below the parachutes to land before they got to the ground, and he didn't pull up."

After running across the highway, Vohs checked on the pilot, who happened to be Thompson's daughter's fiancé, 45-year-old Darren Mohle.

"He was conscious, he was a little confused. He said he was in pain," Vohs said.

He then checked on the co-pilot, known as Marco, and said the door was damaged and he was unable to open it.

"I had to pull the (door) handle, and I was able to squeeze my finger underneath it and just kind of yank that door open," Vohs told NBC 7. "Luckily, it wasn't too bent up and I could get into it."

According to Thompson, Vohs and Gordon cared for the two while waiting for first responders to arrive.

After emergency crews freed the occupants of the damaged aircraft, paramedics transported Mohle to Scripps Memorial Hospital for back fractures, a concussion and cuts and bruises all over his body, but none of those injuries were life-threatening, Thompson said.

According to Thompson, the co-pilot identified only as "Marco" was airlifted to Palomar Medical Center in critical condition, but is doing well, Thompson said.

"He is banged up also, but he is walking and talking just fine," she said. "His back is hurt, and he also has cuts and bruises. But he is OK!"

Thompson said her daughter Catherine is shaken up but said the couple are not canceling the wedding which is scheduled in March.

"It's on. He's alive. She's like, 'We're getting married in the hospital if that is the case,'" Thompson said.

Since the crash, Thompson has had the opportunity to thank Vohs for his role in responding to the incident.

"I was able to talk with Morgan Vohs and thank him," she said. "He is a kindhearted man and he said he was just doing what anyone else would do."

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will investigate the accident, Eva Lee Ngai, a public information officer for the FAA, said.

City News Service contributed to this story.

Kim Harris can be reached by email at [email protected].