No one injured in plane crash near Wardell

Family Survives Violent Plane Crash In Russell County
George Jackson/11 Connects
Russell Co., Va.—She lost one of her sandals as the four-seat, single-engine Piper plowed into the treetops in the Jefferson National Forest, its left wing shearing off before the fuselage thudded to the forest floor. So Teresa Lonneman borrowed one of her father’s boots.
With the mismatched shoes on her feet and her cell phone in hand, Lonneman started walking out to seek help. Along the way, she left torn-off bits of her clothing, so she could lead rescuers back to the crash site.
“She had a cell phone and was talking to dispatch, and trying to give us a location of where she was at, what she was seeing,” Russell County Sheriff’s Maj. Bill Watson said Sunday about the late Saturday rescue of Lonneman and her parents, Robert and Cynthia Lonneman. “The task was to try to find her from there, then the crash site. We knew there were three people on board, none of which were critically injured.”
Rescue crews reached the Lonneman family sometime after 7 p.m., three hours after Teresa Lonneman first made cell-phone contact.
“We had some bad weather that had moved in, some rain and heavy fog,” Watson said. “And given the hour of the day, it made it very difficult to find these people in the mountainous terrain.”
Teresa Lonneman, 25, of Covington, Ky., and her father, Robert, 60, of Edgewood, Ky., both suffered seat belt rash. Robert Lonneman has additional superficial wounds. Both were taken to the Russell County Medical Center where they were treated and released.
Cynthia Lonneman, 56, also of Edgewood, Ky., suffered more serious facial injuries, authorities said. She was flown to the Johnson City Medical Center where she was treated, and stayed the night before being released Sunday.
Virginia State Police Trooper Chris Vance said the three were flying from the Lunkin County [Ohio] Airport near Cincinnati to Charleston, S.C., for a wedding. Robert Lonneman was piloting the 1974 Piper single-engine Cherokee Warrior. But sometime before 4 p.m. Saturday, they ran into trouble.
“They hit the side of the mountain,” Watson said. The pilot “had actually powered the airplane up and was trying to gain altitude … when he struck the trees.
“Trees were hitting the bottom of the aircraft, as it started going down it provided somewhat of a cushion of a landing as it was falling through the trees and then it fell to the forest floor,” Watson said.
The Warrior had crashed into a maple tree, and became entangled in a web of grape vines.
“It was remarkable there wasn’t any fire,” Watson said.
“They were glad that they were found before dark.” Watson said. “It was their biggest concern.”
Watson said the pilot told his rescuers “it was by the grace of God that they survived that crash.”
As Theresa Lonneman walked out for help, she was able to use her cell phone to call a 911 dispatch center shortly after 4 p.m.
The Russell County rescue squads and fire departments responded, aided by more than 50 people, including community members on ATVs, the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, the Richlands Police Department, and the Virginia State Police.
Rescuers set up a camp near the intersection of Mountain Road and Cricket Lane and headed for the forest.
They also had some help from a couple of 16-year-old local hunters.
“They were in the forest bow-hunting,“ Watson said. “They heard the aircraft go directly above them, looked up and seen them at a treetop level, and just a few seconds later they heard a crash.
“That was very beneficial to us knowing we were in the right area,” Watson said. “We started out that trail, and that’s when we found her. … It was around 7 o’clock we found her. She had started making her way down the mountain into a clearing.”
Vance said the plane crashed about a mile south of the intersection of Cricket Lane and Mountain Road in the Belfast community of Russell County. Rescuers found the wreckage about 600 or 700 feet below the peak of the mountain ridge.
After the rescuers reached Teresa Lonneman in the clearing, she lead them back toward the wrecked plane.
On the way there, Watson said, the rescue team found the other two passengers walking out as well, following the path their daughter had taken.
George Jackson
Digital Journalist
WJHL-TV/11 Connects
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