OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) - Loved ones of pilot Darren Mohle are thankful he’s alive after a plane crash in Oceanside Thursday afternoon.
“As soon as it said, 'Darren' and 'plane crash,' the only thing I thought was ...,” Patti Thompson, the injured pilot’s future mother-in-law, told ABC 10News.
"He's dead," future relative Tavia Horton interjected.
Thompson and Horton started to fear the worst had happened to their soon-to-be-family member immediately after hearing about the incident.
RELATED: 2 taken to hospital after skydiving plane crashes in Oceanside
Oceanside Police and the FAA said that a plane that Mohle and another man were in crashed near the Oceanside Airport at around 12:45 p.m. Thursday, with both men taken to local hospitals.
“We were all just circulating text messages to try to figure out where he was ... and then try to figure out my daughter, Catherine, and she didn’t know where he was. They’re supposed to be married in the next three weeks,” Thompson said.
“I mean, you hear plane crash, and you think the worst. But thankfully that’s not the truth,” Horton said.
Police did not immediately release any information on plane occupants' injuries. The department said that one man was in critical condition and the other in moderate condition as of Thursday evening.
But Mohle’s future mother-in-law told ABC 10News he has some fractures in his back, lacerations, and badly hit his head. Thompson said that Mohle was training the other person onboard to pilot the plane for skydiving.
Mohle has been a pilot for 10 years, Thompson estimated, and she noted that he’s also a commercial pilot.
“He’s an instructor over at Palomar (Airport). He was also one of my first instructors in flying and my daughter's, also. I mean, that’s how we met him,” Thompson said.
“He’s a very experienced pilot. And, like I said, I don’t think most people would’ve been able to be in this hospital alive right now,” Horton said.
As the NTSB investigates the crash, to say Mohle’s loved ones are thankful is an understatement and they can’t wait show him that.
“Probably lunge myself and hug him,” Thompson said.
“We’re just so thankful that they’re still going to be married. That everything is OK,” Horton said.
GoJump America, a skydiving company, told ABC 10News that the plane is owned by them.
They did not release any further details about the incident.
