UPDATE: Plane Crash at Collegedale Airport

A pilot survives a small plane crash in Collegedale. People on the scene are calling it a miracle.

The pilot, 24 year old Arthur Karst with Global Ministries International, was taking off around 6 am Thursday from the small airport. Now the pieces of the plane are buried in the nearby woods... a wing, tail, and the body, ripped apart during the crash.

Don Ashlock, a nearby resident, said, "When you look at the plane, it's hard to imagine any human being could come out alive but he did and got out just before it struck fire."

Ashlock was walking by when he saw the single engine Piper Cherokee take a terrible turn.

"We could hear it, through the trees," he said. "It was loud, but it was a good sign. We knew the trees would soften the impact.

But they didn't stop the violent landing, or the flames that followed. Karst however managed to walk out of the rubble, and was taken to Erlanger where he was treated and released.

"He's very lucky," said Ashlock. "Hit trees, crash, catch fire, he had minor injuries, but is very lucky indeed."

Police Chief Brian Hickman says Karst took off from the runway heading north. It was estimated he got as high as 900 feet before something went wrong... he turned left, clipped some trees, and slammed into the woods, behind Silver Lane. The FAA arrived a few hours later to investigate.

While no one knows yet what went wrong, we do know Karst was flying for a good reason.

He wants to do missionary work... his plan was to eventually take the plane to Africa on a mission trip.