Pilot describes how routine flight turned into fight for survival: "A miracle"

Nearly a month after his plane crashed into a wooded area in Fayette County, a pilot is calling his survival a "miracle."

On July 4, an ultralight plane crashed into the trees in Dunbar Township. The pilot, 75-year-old Gregory Beaver, talked with KDKA-TV on Tuesday about what happened. 

"I guess it was a miracle," he said. "Most of the folks who I was engaged with said the Lord wasn't done with me yet."

Beaver said he took off from Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport just after 9 a.m. on July 4. 

"I took off, flew over towards Scottdale/Mount Pleasant at an elevation of about 1,500 feet," Beaver said.

When he turned around to head back, Beaver said his routine flight turned into a fight for survival.

"I would say it was about 10 minutes from landing, and all of a sudden my engine started to chug, chug, chug," Beaver said.

The 75-year-old said before long, his engine stopped.  

"I didn't panic, and I was hoping to clear some trees out in Dunbar Township off of West Crawford Avenue," Beaver said. "And I could not maintain elevation, and I hit the tree, and the tree won."  

He said his Quicksilver single-wing ultralight plane was stuck in the trees, but he fell to the ground because he was not wearing his seat belt.

"It was estimated to be about 25 feet I fell to the ground," Beaver said. "Had I had my seat belt on, there was a chance I would have been hanging there upside down."

He said during the crash, he also lost his cellphone.

"I could not call anyone for help. So probably took me 20 minutes or so. I crawled and walked about 400 or 500 yards and finally got the attention of a gentleman who was cutting his grass, and he came out and started my recovery," Beaver said.

Beaver was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, where he learned he had three fractured ribs and one fractured vertebra in his lower back.

"I want to thank those who helped me in my rescue and getting me down to the hospital. A great deal of gratitude," Beaver said.

Beaver is at home now, where he continues to recover. He said he has to wear a brace around his body.

"You can see a brace that the physicians gave me to hold my torso and my ribs intact, so there wouldn't be any movement," Beaver said.

Beaver said his interest in flying planes began at a young age. He said he used to live near the Mount Pleasant/Scottdale Airport as a child, where he could watch the planes take off.

"I could go up on the hill, and I could just watch all the planes take off, and they came right up overhead. I think that planted a seed of having an interest in aviation," Beaver said.

Around 1997, Beaver said he started flying in a powered parachute.

"It is designed that you actually fly," he said. "Your air wing is a parachute that you lay behind you, and as you gain speed, it comes up over top of you and then you can make sure your lines are all clear, you look left and right, and then you take off and up you go," Beaver said.

He said around 2015, he and a friend built his ultralight plane. Just last Friday, Beaver said he hired crews to bring his plane down from the trees where he crashed. He said fortunately, there was little damage.

"The frame looked sound. There were a few tears, just small tears in the fabric. It's a large, 28-foot-wide Dacron fabric, and they can be easily patched," he said. 

The fearless pilot said he hopes to fly it again in the spring.

"Something like that was a freak accident because this happens very, very rarely," Beaver said.

He also shared this piece of advice to others who fly.  

"Always to keep calm, and always when you're flying an ultralight, have your eye on somewhere — a large pasture, a field — if you have to land, that way you can do so as safely as possible," Beaver said. "If you panic, then you're not going to think clearly."