A seven-year-old girl who survived a US plane crash which killed her family may now be asked to help tell investigators what went wrong.
Sailor Gutzler walked 1.5km through near-freezing, dark woods to get help and then assisted authorities in locating the wreckage and the remains of her family.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Heidi Moats says Sailor is "one remarkable young lady" and might be able to help them determine what brought the plane down.
It is rare for someone to survive a small plane crash and Moats says they want to talk to Sailor about it.
"Having someone that is a witness (is) always helpful in the investigation, it gives us kind of a story line," Moats said.
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After the Friday night crash, Sailor, bloodied and suffering a broken wrist, trekked through thick woods and briar patches to the home of 71-year-old Larry Wilkins.
Wilkins answered her knock at the door and called police.
"She told me that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down," Wilkins said.
Sailor was alert and able to point emergency workers in the right direction to find the plane wreckage.
She was dressed for Florida, where her family had been visiting, and was wearing shorts, a short-sleeve shirt and only one sock when she found the Wilkins' home.
She has since been treated at a hospital and released to a relative.
The crash killed Sailor's parents, Marty Gutzler, 48, and his wife, Kimberly, 46, Sailor's sister, Piper, 9, and a cousin, Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville, Illinois.
The Gutzlers had been visiting family in Key West, Florida, and stopped in Tallahassee, Florida, on the way back to Mount Vernon, Illinois.
