Four occupants expected to survive, NTSB opens inquiry
A team of experienced skydivers parachuted into a Wisconsin cornfield on Sunday to help the survivors of a small plane crash they had just watched go down, using their medical training to treat a seriously injured passenger before ground-based emergency crews could reach the scene. The single-engine aircraft, a Beechcraft 35-A33 Debonair built in 1961, came to rest in the field near East Troy with one of its wings detached, according to aerial footage published by local ABC affiliate WISN.
The Skydive Milwaukee jumpers had been preparing for an afternoon of recreational skydiving when the pilot of their aircraft watched the small plane lose altitude, according to accounts the skydivers gave to Wisconsin and Milwaukee-area news outlets. The pilot, Jonah Johnston, radioed air traffic controllers with an emergency call offering immediate assistance.
“I have a plane crash, just south of East Troy. He’s in a field. I can drop a load of skydivers right over them to potentially help aid,” Johnston said, according to audio of the call.
Among those who jumped were John Bechtel, who has more than 30 years of skydiving experience, and Kevin Flynn. Bechtel told WISN that he and two colleagues had watched the plane descend.
“He kind of banked up and then he disappeared behind the trees, and we were all waiting for him to show back up,” Bechtel said. “We all looked at each other and said, ‘Did we just see a plane crash?’”
After calling in what they saw to authorities on the ground, Bechtel said, the three jumpers descended directly to the crash site. One of them, who like Bechtel is a former paramedic, located a woman with a serious head injury and treated her until an EMT crew reached the crash site by ambulance.
“The timing couldn’t have been any better. Had we left five minutes earlier, we wouldn’t have seen it. If we left 15 minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to get there to assist,” Bechtel said. “I’m just glad that we were able to do what we could and get in and help.”
Flynn, speaking to Milwaukee news outlet WDJT, said the tall corn in the field made the crash site difficult to locate from the air. He said he and Bechtel began calling out after they landed to draw a response.
“I got in there and started doing the Marco Polo game to get a response,” he said. “People started yelling at me so I could dial in where I was going.”
“It could’ve been a lot worse for those poor people in that crash, no fatalities. I know it’s a terrible thing to happen, but I think it’s a wonderful outcome,” Flynn said.
Walworth County officials said three passengers from the downed plane were taken to hospital and the fourth was treated at the scene. All four are expected to survive. The identities of the victims have not been released.
In a statement, Skydive Milwaukee said: “A few members of our skydiving community who are trained [emergency medical technicians] were already airborne in our jump plane and jumped out to assist at the scene, which was difficult to access from the road. We’re grateful they were able to help when they were needed.”
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an inquiry into the cause of the crash, and an investigator arrived at the site on Sunday afternoon.