Crashed Plane Extraction Help

Friends, some of you may have heard, but my family is in the midst of a heartbreaking life challenge. On Aug 1, one of the engines of a small plane my dad was flying malfunctioned just after takeoff. My dad, who’s been a pilot for decades, first with jets in the Air Force before becoming a commercial pilot, pulled a fighter pilot maneuver to regain control of the plane (which nearly flipped over), but it was descending too fast and, to avoid crashing into a forest of trees, he aimed for the bank of a marsh he saw in a clearing of the trees, reasoning it would be the softest landing they could achieve and perhaps prevent their full fuel tank from exploding. The maneuver worked, but not without enormous toll. My dad and his long-time friend, Tim Fiser, who was with him suffered critical injuries when both were ejected (despite seatbelts) from the aircraft into the mud as the plane was torn apart around them while it crash-landed. They both miraculously survived the impact, and thankfully some folks who saw/heard the crash were able to call local authorities and get paramedics to the scene. We are so grateful for their herculean efforts to get to my dad and Tim – including wading through waist-deep mud and ignoring the prospect of snakes and alligators. But tragically Tim lost his life a couple days later, succumbing to his injuries. Furthermore, my dad suffered a “complete” (an official medical term you can look up) spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from the waist down.

After a 6-hour back surgery and 2+ weeks in the ICU/hospital, my dad was transferred to a rehab facility in Atlanta where he will spend the next several weeks/months. I have been so grateful for the thoughts and prayers of those who heard about this and reached out. And I really appreciate the ongoing prayers for my dad’s recovery in the long road ahead. His life will be very different moving forward, but I am so grateful for that life. I had not previously said anything about this publicly out of sensitivity to my dad’s privacy and that of Tim's family. However, I am posting about this now because I need your help.

The FAA has begun an investigation, which is really important for determining what went wrong, but has not been able to get access to the plane due to its remote location and the difficult terrain. For reasons too long to go into, we’ve learned that the cost of retrieving the plane out of the mud – which will need to be done via some kind of airlift and transported over to an FAA hanger so they can begin the 12-24 months it will take to investigate this horrifying incident – is going to be on us, the family - my dad (insurance won't cover it). That cost we’ve been told is $23k plus hundreds of dollars per month for the storage hanger. The longer the plane sits there in the marsh the more it disintegrates and the prospect of losing the data contained in the plane and engines becomes very real. So, I am making an appeal to anyone out there who might find it in themselves to help us out. If you feel this to be a worthy cause, please consider contributing to this effort via the GoFundMe account I created and sharing this post/spreading the word to people or organizations who might consider helping. I am grateful for any aid you/others might be willing to render. Please call, text or DM me if you have any questions. Thanks in advance!

Here is a news story on the crash, complete with (horrifying) pictures of the crash site: https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/two-injured-washington-county-plane-crash/93-39251cd2-e38f-4e91-b1ab-fd98865ad051