Mystery Object Plummets From the Sky – 2 Men Spot It and Race to the Scene
By Christina Williams
Mystery Object Plummets From the Sky – 2 Men Spot It and Race to the Scene

Sometimes it’s all a matter of being in the right place at the right time. During Christmas, a Navy veteran and his Marine son were part of their own holiday miracle. The men had wandered outside to the creek behind their Maryland home, when they heard a noise.

Above them, a frightening scene began to play out in the skies overhead. The two military men recognized the sound of a plane in trouble and saw the single-engine Piper Cherokee plane struggling in the sky. John Gelinne Sr, and his son John Jr., listened as the plane sputtered and watched in horror as it careened out of the sky.

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The Gelinnes said they thought the plane was going to smash into their house. But then, the pilot made a safety maneuver that likely saved their house, as well as the homes of their neighbors, they said. 

He recognized he was in trouble and he banked it hard left,” Gelinne Sr. said.

But in doing so, the pilot crash-landed into the ice-covered creek. The men immediately grabbed their kayaks to make their way out to the downed plane. When they realized their paddles couldn’t handle the frozen water, they switched to shovels to get across the iced-over creek.

Kayakers rescued a pilot after a small plane crashed into frozen creek in Edgewater, Md. Photo courtesy of John Gelinne

The plane’s pilot had miraculously managed to escape the plane as it sank, and was standing on the wing waiting for help, the Maryland State Police said. By the time Gelinne Sr. and his son reached the man, he was in waist-deep freezing water. Gelinne Sr. said he told the pilot, “‘Get out of the water, just get out of the water and just hold tight.'”

Police assist kayakers after they rescued a pilot after a small plane crashed into frozen creek in Edgewater, Md. Phot courtesy John Gelinne

“I just pick-axed backwards and got my kayak back out of the ice and he was out of the water,” he said. As the the men worked to rescue the pilot, Anne Arundel County Police Officer Elizabeth Myers arrived on scene by kayak as well, using a screwdriver to make her way across the ice. Her body cam showed the 71-year-old pilot, the only one in the plane, hanging on to the Gelinne Sr.’s kayak.

The pilot was taken to a local hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Preliminary investigation, the authorities said, showed that the plane’s engine began having issues “moments after the pilot took off …” “Witnesses told police they heard the sputter and shortly thereafter, they heard the plane crash into Beards Creek,” the police said.

Neither of the heroes were hurt. Gelinne Jr. said he was impressed with how quickly his father acted. “I’m sore, so I’m sure he’s pretty sore as well,” Gelinne Jr. said. Police said that Gelinnes quick-thinking actions were “heroic” and likely saved the pilot’s life. “Hypothermia can set in within minutes,” a first responder said. “Absolutely probably saved his life.”

But Gelinne Sr. told WMAR he doesn’t consider his actions as extraordinary. “I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “I look at it as someone that saw something, that needed to do something.” But he said that he was happy that the man was OK. “The only thing I’m happy about is this guy is going to have another Christmas,” Gelinne Sr. said. “Like this ended well, this could have ended really badly.” Watch below to see the two heroes in action!

Sources: ABC | WMAR2 | Independent