JANESVILLE, Wis. — “It’s nothing you ever want to see. It isn’t pretty,” Richard Pawluk said as he recounted the moment he witnessed a small plane crash Tuesday morning in rural Rock County.
The crash happened along the edge of Happy Hallow Park, a remote area about a mile south of Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville. Pawluk lives near this area and was out on a walk when he watched a small plane dip into a line of trees.
“We heard a crunch,” Pawluk said. “I’ve lived around the airport long enough that I know what a normal plane sounds like. And this wasn’t normal.”
The plane crashed around 9:20 a.m., about a minute after it took off from the airport. The plane went down in a wooded and swampy area of the park making it difficult the spot the crash site.
Pawluk reached the plane ten minutes after it crash. He found it partially submerged in water and mud.
“I moved back there as fast as I could the snow was rather deep,” Pawluk said. “I couldn’t get anywhere near it. I tried walking out to see if I could get to it, but I kept breaking through the ice and sinking in the mud.”
Emergency crews credit Pawluk with helping guide them to the crash site. Crews used an airboat to get to the crash site since deep snow and downed trees made it hard to travel to the area on land.
Both occupants on the plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identifies will be released at a later time pending notification of family.
“I just wish I could of got out there. I wish I could have got to the plane to see if I could save anybody,” Pawluk said.
The pilot messaged the airport tower about an undisclosed problem moments before the crash. Authorities were unable to share specifics about the message during a Tuesday news conference.
Conditions were clear at the time of the crash.
The Rock County Sheriff’s Office will protect the crash scene until federal investigators arrive. The scene will then be turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board.
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