A 53-year-old Cridersville, Ohio, man walked away from an airplane crash Friday at a horse farm in this small unincorporated town just south of Cameron. Mark A. Gesler was being treated at Wheeling Hospital late Friday but appeared to be stable, according to a representative of the nursing staff there. Click on Read More for the full story.
Marshall County Sheriff John Gruzinskas said the crash occurred at 2:08 p.m.
Gesler was traveling alone in the 1966 Piper Cherokee fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft from Lima, Ohio, to the Wisp ski area at Deep Creek Lake, Md., where he said he was planning to surprise some friends and do some skiing.
Along with other gear taken from the aircraft belonging to Gesler was a pair of ski boots. The sheriff's department currently has possession of those items.
Lima, the reported point of take-off, is around 250 miles northwest of the crash site. Gesler's hometown of Cridersville is about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.
Gesler reportedly encountered a snowstorm somewhere near the crash site and began to experience icing problems, Gruzinskas said, and was forced to look for a place to land.
"He went down into the hollow and tried to hit the field on the way up," Gruzinskas said.
At some point during the emergency landing, the aircraft's right wing hit a wooden fence post and was torn off, sending the aircraft into a spin before it came to rest nose-first at a small embankment bordering the gravel road from U.S. 250 to the farmhouse. The nose portion of the aircraft was damaged, as was the tail.
Officials said Gesler hit his head on the steering controls in the cockpit during the landing.
Sean Hall operates the horse farm, but he was not present at the time of the crash, his father said.
Following the crash, an employee of the state Division of Highways traveling on U.S. 250 spotted Gesler, who proceeded to hop the guardrail and ask for a ride into town, Gruzinskas said.
The DOH worker took Gesler to the sheriff's department at Moundsville, where he was briefly questioned and reportedly was bleeding profusely from a wound on his face and appeared somewhat disoriented. He was subsequently transported to the hospital by ambulance.
The Federal Aviation Administration and Civil Air Patrol were both notified of the crash, Gruzinskas said, and were requesting the crash site be secured until an investigation was completed.
According to FAA records, the aircraft is registered to Gesler, who is a certified private pilot
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