NTSB: PILOT IN FATAL CRASH IN KENTUCKY REPORTED ENGINE TROUBLE
January 23, 2014
Salvage workers bring
out part of a Piper PA-34's fuselage, wing, and landing gear from a crash site
Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015 in Kuttawa, Ky. A 7-year-old girl survived and four of her
family members were killed. Authorities said the child, dressed in a
short-sleeve shirt, shorts and one sock, walked about a mile (more than a
kilometer) in near-freezing temperatures through thick briar patches and woods
before finding a home where she sought help. The plane went down in a deeply
wooded area and required special machinery to remove. (AP Photo/Timothy D.
Easley)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – The pilot of a small plane over
western Kentucky lost sight of the airport and reported the right engine had
stopped shortly before the plane crashed and killed everyone aboard except a
7-year-old girl, according to a preliminary report.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s report says air
traffic controllers lost contact with the plane around 5:55 p.m., about five minutes
after the pilot had asked for assistance because of engine problems. The
pilot’s last contact with controllers was that he had lost sight of the
airport.
The Piper PA-34 landed upside down with the landing gear
retracted. The crash killed pilot Marty Gutzler; his wife, Kimberly; their
daughter, Piper; and her cousin, Sierra Wilder. The couple’s daughter, Sailor,
survived the crash.