TROOPERS RECOVERING FROM PLANE CRASH

HOLDENVILLE -- Two Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers were recovering Monday
after being injured a day earlier when their airplane crashed near
Holdenville.

Troopers Jim Bullock and Jim Thompson, from the McAlester highway
patrol office, were looking for marijuana when their Cessna 182
apparently stalled and hit some trees about 15 miles east of
Holdenville, said Wayne Beckmann, operations officer at the southwest
regional office of the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth,
Texas.

Federal officials started investigating the cause of the crash on Sunday.

Bullock, the pilot, suffered cuts and bruises. He was treated and
released from McAlester Regional Health Center, the hospital reported.

Thompson's wrist was broken, Beckmann said. He was in good condition
Monday morning at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, said hospital
spokeswoman Hether Haddox.

OHP Maj. Mike Grimes said the troopers were flying low to search for
marijuana.