'I dropped to my knees and started praying': Barrington man on jumping out of plane in Arizona wilderness and surviving

Ken Franzese thought he was incredibly lucky to have survived three crashes in his youth, two on motorcycles and one in a dune buggy that flipped and sunk into a lake with him strapped in it.

But that was nothing compared to the harrowing experience of jumping with a parachute from a World War II-era plane that was plummeting to the ground, spending the night alone injured and freezing in an eastern Arizona forest, and finally finding his way to rescuers the next day, all while intensely praying for his life not to be over.

"This is not a crazy airplane story," said Franzese, 54, of Barrington. "This is my testament to the power of prayer."

Franzese was the featured speaker Tuesday at the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce's annual community Thanksgiving luncheon. He is a principal with Lee & Associates of Illinois, based in Rosemont, and a volunteer with the chamber's Elgin Development Group.

His story of survival and gratitude moved the crowd to a standing ovation. "Wow," said Mike Warren, the chamber's board chairman. "I guess that gives us another whole reason to be thankful."

The crash happened May 6 when Franzese and his friend Ron Carlson of Hawthorn Woods were flying from California to Illinois in a 1945 restored TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, the kind used on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in World War II. Carlson bought it from an owner in Australia and had it shipped to California to finish up restoration, Franzese said.

"It had a new motor. It was fully restored," said Franzese, a pilot for about 30 years. "He was just doing some extra work ... to make it super authentic on the inside."

In preparation for the trip, Carlson, the main pilot, bought flight suits and replicas of World War II parachutes. When he sent Franzese a video showing how to deploy them, Franzese watched it, thinking, "This is a complete waste of time."

The men planned to fly the plane to the Chicago area over a couple of days, alternating 2½ hours of flight with refueling stops.

They landed south of Phoenix after the first leg. While flying the second leg over Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona - miles and miles of dense forest - the plane suffered catastrophic engine failure, suddenly decelerating in a plume of smoke.

Franzese got out of the cockpit and onto the wing of the plane and Carlson banked the plane so he could jump safely. That's the last Franzese saw of his friend - who also jumped and deployed his parachute - until they serendipitously reunited the next day.

Franzese landed in a tree more than 30 feet tall, where his parachute got stuck. He had a cellphone but no service. The satellite phone went down with the plane.

He managed to free himself but crashed to the ground and blacked out. When he came to, he was bleeding and spitting up blood after shattering the left side of his face. He now has five titanium plates in his face and nerve damage to his right arm.

"I was scared," he said. "I dropped to my knees and started praying. All I could think about was my wife and my two girls."

He negotiated with God, he said, promising to tell everyone about being saved.

After walking for two hours, he found a shelter in a tight spot between two large rocks and gathered branches to hide from any roaming wolves, coyotes or mountain lions. He spent the night blowing on his hands to avoid frostbite and hypothermia, he said. "I heard every twig snap and animal go by, but I never heard growling."

The next day, Franzese started walking again, worried about going in circles, until he spotted a path that eventually led to a gravel road. That's where he found his friend Carlson, sitting on the side of the road with a couple of cracked ribs and a sprained neck, back and ankles.

The two agreed Franzese should keep walking to look for help, which finally came about four miles ahead in the form of a forest land management crew in a white pickup truck.

"You get the adrenaline release that's unbelievable," he said. "I just started weeping."

Franzese said he was told that surviving plane crashes in that area is nearly unheard of. "They couldn't believe that we both made it."

Also stunning were the odds against being rescued. The workers were in the area just temporarily and the nearest town was 42 miles away, he said.

The plane has yet to be found, Franzese said. Because there were no casualties and the crash happened over Native American land, there is no active, ongoing search, although the Civil Air Patrol looks for it during training missions, he said.

The experience, however terrifying, showed him what matters in life - which is not having more or doing more, Franzese said.

"All you think is about the people who you love and how to get back to them," he said. "It's very moving."