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The officer told him that they believed the four crew members had ejected before the crash and parachuted somewhere nearby. Their location was unknown.
• Gnerer offered to help find the crew and raced north on his bike. He weaved between twisted pieces of metal and startled cattle.
• After three miles of riding he found cockpit seats and what looked like a hatch. Gnerer traced a quarter-mile radius around the seats; squinting, searching.
• He saw no one.
• He came across Cunningham and his wife in a pickup and a group of emergency services workers in another.
• The group was making plans to search in different directions when a sheriff's deputy called out. Standing on a small hill, peering into the distance, he said he thought he could see a fallen parachute.
• Gnerer, best able to handle the rugged terrain on his bike, headed forth again. Soon he found the first of the fallen: Brandon Packard, a weapons system instructor.
• Packard looked bruised, bloody, and overjoyed to see Gnerer. He also seemed shaken.
• "I got a baby girl due in October," he said upon seeing Gnerer.
• "That's good," Gnerer replied, a little surprised. "That's good."
• They exchanged names. Gnerer asked whether Packard knew where the rest of the crew had landed. Packard said he had become unconscious during ejection. When he awoke, he was falling in his parachute, but he believed his crew mates had fallen south of him.
• Packard assured Gnerer that he would be OK by himself and Gnerer motored south.
• He eventually came across the other three crew members; two lying, one standing, all three sharing the same battered appearance as Packard.
• Chad Nishizuka, another weapons system instructor, appeared to have a dislocated arm. He smiled weakly and said little. Frank Biancardi, an instructor pilot, appeared to have a broken leg and was lying down. He moaned lightly.
• Neishizuka and Curtis Michael, another instructor pilot, had propped up inflated life rafts to shade Biancardi from the sun. It was now about 90 degrees. The rafts were slowly deflating; punctured on the cactus-strewn field.
• Another neighboring rancher, Steve Stoddard, arrived on horseback about the same time as Gnerer. The pair checked the condition of the crew members.
• While they were talking, Stoddard and Gnerer asked the crew why their bomber had crashed. The three didn't seem to know. They knew something was wrong with the plane but weren't aware of its severity until moments before ejection.
• After ensuring they were in a stable condition, Gnerer drove back to Packard's

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