EAST TROY, Wisconsin (WISN) — A group of skydivers alerted emergency crews before jumping into action to help after noticing a small plane crash in a Wisconsin cornfield.
It happened in East Troy Sunday afternoon. Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carver School and Lawlor roads, just south of East Troy Municipal Airport.at about 1:30 p.m.
John Betchel was one of the people who didn’t hesitate to help.
“I’m just glad that we were able to do what we could and get in and help,” Bechtel said.
Bechtel has spent the last three decades skydiving across Wisconsin. But his jump Sunday afternoon was unlike anything he’s ever done before.
“That is my first time jumping out for someone else’s emergency,” Bechtel said.
Bechtel and two other experienced jumpers with Skydive Milwaukee were preparing for their day in the air when they noticed something seemed off with a plane near the East Troy airport.
“He kind of banked up and then he disappeared behind the trees, and we were all waiting for him to show back up. We all looked at each other and said, ‘Did we just see a plane crash?’” Bechtel said.
That’s when the brave group asked their pilot to find a safe spot for them to jump. They immediately rushed to the scene to help and notified emergency crews of the crash. One of the jumpers who was with Bechtel is a former paramedic. He helped one person with a serious head injury before EMS arrived.
“The timing couldn’t have been any better. Had we left five minutes earlier, we wouldn’t have seen it; if we left 15 minutes later, we wouldn’t have been able to get there to assist,” Bechtel said.
All four people on board survived and are expected to be OK. Bechtel said without hesitation that he’d do it again if it meant saving someone’s life.
“To be able to help others in need, I would absolutely do that in a heartbeat,” Bechtel said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.