Riverton Man Returns Home After Plane Crash

RIVERTON, Utah – Tuesday morning was the moment Gentry Mikesell has been waiting for.

After a month in the hospital, he was released and arrived at his Riverton home.

“It’s hard to believe that I’m here,” he said.

It’s also a moment many people were worried might never happen, including his wife.

“I didn’t know if he was going to make it, honestly,” said Betsy Mikesell with tears in her eyes. “It was the most scared I have ever been.”

Mikesell, his wife, and two sons were in a small airplane when it lost power and crashed near Moon Lake in Duchesne County last month.

The pilot, Shad Feild, and his wife were also in the plane.

“I pushed the throttle in and there was no power. It kept running, but there was no power,” said Feild during an interview last month.

Feild and Gentry Mikesell suffered the most significant injuries to their spinal cords.

For Mikesell, he also suffered a broken femur, tibia, ankle, nose and facial fractures.

But they all lived.

“I wasn’t the most spiritual person. I was spiritual, but this changes everything,” said Gentry Mikesell. “I’m so grateful for everybody, for the people who came and helped, the people at the hospital, for our hero pilot, Shad, that somehow landed the plane.”

The Mikesell family said the support from friends and neighbors, even people they don’t really know, has been something they can’t quite explain.

People offered the family meals, help and anything else they might need.

Nurses also held a cellphone in Mikesell’s hospital room so his family could see and talk to him.

“It literally makes me cry every day. I’m like, why are you being so nice? Why are people so good? It’s been amazing seeing all the support,” said Betsy Mikesell.

Feild is currently in Mexico receiving treatments.

He said he is doing great and is expecting to be back home in Utah later this week.

“Having this happen, like, I would never wish this upon anybody else, but I’m grateful it happened to me because it changes the way you think and you don’t take things for granted,” said Gentry Mikesell.

If there’s one thing the family said it has learned through all of this, it’s that there is good in the world.

“The world is so chaotic and so busy,” said Gentry Mikesell. “It’s really crazy right now. But at the end of the day, there is so much love in this world.”