Members of a New Jersey family walked away from a plane crash in Botetourt County. Their single-engine Cessna ran out of fuel April 4, 1996 and crashed in Botetourt Co. as the pilot tried to land in an open field near Troutville. The pilot, 62-year-old Bruce Long, left his hospital bed and joined News-7 for a live interview at the crash site at 6:00 p.m. Long blamed himself for "being stupid for not stopping for gas." Long, his wife and 18-year-old daughter were on their way from Cherry Hill, New Jersey to Blacksburg to check out the Virginia Tech campus. It's a campus visit they'll never forget.
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Photos 1 & 3 by Scott Ayres. Photo 2 by Lynn Eller
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