Air-crash victims still in Michigan

OREM — A Utah Valley State College aviation instructor and student continue to recover in Michigan after a weekend plane crash.

Student Jason Castle, 23, originally from Mesquite, Nev., remained in serious condition Monday in a hospital near Detroit, UVSC spokesman Derek Hall said.

Instructor Randon Russell, 25, is expected to leave the hospital and return to Utah later this week, Hall said.

"They were not on school business. Basically, what happened (is) the Castle family, they were buying a plane," Hall said. "And Randon went (with Castle) to retrieve the new plane."

They flew commercially to Michigan, took the new plane on a test flight and landed.

Later, they departed for Utah in the twin-engine Cessna 310, Hall said, but crashed in a field 40 miles outside of Detroit on Saturday night. Russell was the pilot.

A captain from a local sheriff's office told a Detroit TV station that the plane was severely damaged, and it's surprising that anyone survived.

Castle and Russell suffered broken bones and burns.

"We're glad they're alive," Hall said.