Lucky to be alive?

Family’s faith stronger after plane crash
Worthington couple, kids walk away after aircraft goes down in North
Carolina fog
Monday, January 01, 2007
Jodi Andes
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Laurenze Ducatte, second from left, and Caitlin, 11, front, were
unharmed when the family’s plane crashed in North Carolina. Gerald
Ducatte and Chelsea, 14, had minor bumps and scrapes.

It was as though angels landed the plane in the woods.

That was Gerald Ducatte’s thought as his wife and two daughters stood
outside their crumpled 1963 Beechcraft Musketeer somewhere deep in the
woods of North Carolina.

Minutes before, Ducatte was piloting the four-seater on their way to a
vacation to Florida when it crashed in thick fog late Saturday morning
outside Asheville, N.C.

The Worthington family, though, walked away.

Chelsea, 14, had a cut on her right hand. Mr. Ducatte had abrasions on
his left shoul- der and a few lumps from where the left side of the
cabin caved in.

His wife, Laurenze, and their youngest daughter, Caitlin, 11, walked out
of the back of the plane without a scratch.

Mrs. Ducatte, who teaches nursing at Columbus State Community College,
didn’t need to treat anyone.

"It was truly a miracle. There are no other explanations for it," said
Gerald’s mother, Beverley Ducatte, a Virginia resident who viewed
pictures of the mangled plane on CNN.

The Ducattes took off from Don Scott Field at 8 a.m. Saturday, heading
for Orlando, Fla. They left in light, comfortable clothes, ready for
Florida’s 80-degree warmth.

A heavy fog made it impossible to see in the skies above North Carolina.

A recorded message from the Asheville airport said there was 1,000 feet
of clearance between the clouds and ground. Mr. Ducatte descended to
find those clear skies.

But when they got to that level, visibility was actually worse, he said.
The next time he was able to see something, it was too late.

"When we got down there and got out of a cloud there were trees," Mrs.
Ducatte said.

The plane skidded off the top of the trees before plowing into limbs,
Mr. Ducatte said.

Standing outside the wreckage, the family could see that trees clipped
off the plane’s left wing, and the right wing was barely attached. The
fuselage came to rest with its nose nestled between trees. Fuel leaked
from several spots but didn’t ignite.

Snow covered parts of the mountainside and the air felt only a few
degrees above freezing. With no heavy jackets on board, the family
pulled extra clothes from their luggage, called 911 and waited for help.

Rescuers made it to the site in about two hours. It took another three
hours to climb down the mountain, Mrs. Ducatte said.

Medics and deputies were gracious as they helped the family — and their
luggage — down the mountain, she said.

"They were tremendous," Mrs. Ducatte said.

The family took a cab to a nearby hotel before renting a car yesterday
and continuing on to Florida for their vacation.

Chelsea, a freshman at Thomas Worthington High School, rested so well
that she was even laughing in her sleep, her mother said.

There were many calls from friends after the family’s story made
national news. Chelsea said she was happy knowing she was loved.

Mrs. Ducatte said that the family’s Christian beliefs are even stronger now.

Mr. Ducatte, a chemist at Battelle, has a basic pilot’s license and has
been flying a few years. He said he is thankful for his flight
instructor, Chuck Miele.

Mrs. Ducatte said she is glad that her husband was so skilled and that
emergency crews worked so quickly to find them.

But both say that credit for their safety doesn’t belong in human hands.