Overview
- The aircraft was returning to Spirit of St. Louis Airport when it descended under a deployed parachute and landed in trees near Wilson Avenue and Wild Horse Creek Road around 6 p.m. on Nov. 11.
- Monarch Fire Protection District Fire Marshal Jim McKay said the pilot activated a whole-aircraft parachute, allowing a controlled drift into the tree line.
- Both occupants exited without injuries, and a Chesterfield councilwoman called their survival a “miracle.”
- The plane came to rest nose-down on a property with horses as local crews captured images of the wreck and the parachute tangled in branches.
- The NTSB has opened an investigation into the incident, and a local broadcast report estimated the plane was at roughly 1,300 feet before the descent.