A South Florida man who ran to help two people following a plane crash in Pembroke Pines was honored by the city on Wednesday night.
Nathan Gansert was recognized during a city commission meeting for his heroic actions following the May 29 crash.
Two people were on board the plane, a Cessna C172P, when it crashed shortly after departing North Perry at around 11:30 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
It went down on the grounds of South Florida State Hospital, just west of the airport.
According to a police report, Gansert said he was driving by when he witnessed the plane go down.
He said he immediately went over to give aid and saw two women inside the wreckage of the plane, which came to a rest upside-down.
“I 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 and just pretty much did what I did best, I guess that it’s just being a human,” Gansert said Wednesday night.
The pilot, Vanessa Ledo, and student pilot, Earlene E. Clarke Thomas, were both hospitalized but expected to survive.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Pembroke Pines Fire Chief Marcelino Rodriguez presented Gansert with the department’s Civilian Special Recognition Award.
“A good Samaritan would have just called 911 and continued on their way but instead you turned around to provide help and went out of your way,” Rodriguez said.
Gansert was also personally thanked by Pembroke Pines Commissioner Jay Schwartz, who owns the flight school connected with the plane that went down.
“Nathan, you saved my girls, you saved them,” Schwartz said.
According to the police report, the student pilot told investigators that they had taken off before there was an engine failure in the air and they began to nose dive and then crashed.
A witness from another business at the airport said he watched the plane take off and heard the engine stall, the report said.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by the FAA.
The Broward County Aviation Department said in a statement that “safety is a top priority at (North Perry Airport),” and that the aviation facility passed its Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) annual inspection earlier this month for the 26th year in a row.
“While the County will not speculate as to the cause or causes of this accident, we will be cooperating with the authorities as they conduct their investigation,” the statement read.