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 “She is one remarkable young lady,” Heidi Moats, an investigator
for National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference.
Moats said the NTSB arrived at the crash scene on Sunday but she had
no information on the cause.
The plane crashed early Friday evening into woods near Eddyville,
Kentucky, killing the pilot, Marty Gutzler, 47, his 46-year-old
wife, Kimberly Gutzler, their nine-year-old daughter Piper Gutzler
and a niece, Sierra Wilder, 14, authorities said.
The Gutzlers, from Nashville, Illinois, were on their way home from
Florida when Marty Gutzler reported an emergency and was directed to
land at the nearest small airport, Kentucky State Police Lieutenant
Brent White said at the news conference.
 The girl, identified in a statement released to the media through a
family lawyer as Sailor Gutzler, said the plane came to halt upside
down and partly on fire, White said. The girl suffered broken bones
in her arm, he said.
“She believed that her family was deceased but she hoped they were
just sleeping,” White said. The girl freed herself from the plane
with one arm and walked away to seek help, wearing only shorts and a
light shirt in 38-degree temperatures, he said.
“She navigated downed trees, she navigated briars and bushes,” White
said. She walked for an estimated 15 to 20 minutes on the dark and
misty night until she saw lights coming from the home of Larry
Wilkins, White said.
After she arrived at his door, Wilkins called 911. Police, including
White, arrived within minutes and the girl was taken to a hospital,
White said. White said the girl was distraught and shook up but able
to describe the crash and where the plane was located.
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“I was literally struck by how calm she was,” White said.
The girl was treated and released on Saturday from a hospital, White
said. She will be an important witness as the NTSB investigates how
and why the crash occurred, Moats said. The Federal Aviation
Administration is also investigating.
The plane, a Piper PA-34-200T, described by police as a fixed-wing
multiple-engine aircraft, had departed Key West, Florida on Friday
and stopped in Tallahassee, Florida, en route to Mt. Vernon,
Illinois, police said.
(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Missouri; Editing by
Meredith Mazzilli)
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