PEMBROKE PINES, FLA. (WSVN) - Pembroke Pines officials honored the good Samaritan who jumped into action to help rescue two women who were on board a small plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from North Perry Airport.
Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo joined city commissioners at Wednesday night’s commissiom meeting in applauding Nathan Gansert for his couragerous actions.
“I’m here to tell you that there are two kinds of people in this world: ones who see danger and run away from it, and ones who see danger and run toward it,” said Castillo. “There’s only two, but some of them get paid, and some of them don’t.”
Gansert shared his account of the moments after he spotted a Cessna C172P struggling to stay airborne, late Friday morning.
“I did what I did best, I guess that it’s just being a human,” he said.
According to Castillo, the Cessna, which was part of a flight school, had engine failure shortly after takeoff.
The mayor said the two women on board tried to turn the plane around, but didn’t have enough altitude.
Gansert said he was driving near North Perry Airport when he saw the aircraft starting to wobble.
“I see this plane above me, and it looked like it was losing altitude,” he said.
Then he didn’t see it in the sky anymore, and so, Gansert said, he went looking for it.
Castillo said the plane hit a tree and flipped over in a ditch, inches from hitting a psychiatric hospital where patients were inside.
“Two patients, most likely trauma alerts, both female, mid-20s,” said a first responder in radio transmissions.
When Gansert didn’t see the Cessna in the sky anymore, he said he quickly drove around until he found the overturned plane.
“I’d seen just tree branches on the ground. I’d seen the plane, and I’d seen one of the girls starting to climb out, and I jumped out of my car and ran over there and helped the other one,” he said.
Gansert said he wasn’t thinking about the fuel line or any other possible dangers, just making sure the women were safe.
“All I could do was make sure that these girls were going to be OK. I didn’t want nothing to happen to them, because I got a sister, and I got family, and I wanted to make sure these girls made it home safe,” he said.
City Commissioner Jay Schwartz, who owns the flight school where the pilots trained, said he is grateful for Gansert and his bravery.
“Nathan, you saved my girls,” said Schwartz.
The two victims are currently recovering.
According to the Broward County Aviation Department, there have been 13 crashes and 20 incidents at or near North Perry Airport from 2020 to 2024.
Castillo said he is asking for more safety precautions, because at this point it doesn’t feel like the airport has done enough. Some residents believe the airport has grown out of this area.
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