While the plane crash investigation south of Osseo is now being led by the NTSB and the FAA -- it all started with nearby neighbors who heard the loud sound of an airplane in distress.

It was around 5:30 Sunday evening when Bob Verkler was doing his chores, feeding his cattle when he heard something. He says, “I heard this airplane sound, and it sounded like they were doing like loops --and I’m thinking who's flying in this foggy rainy weather.”

So he listened closely and looked to the west, where the sound was coming from. He remembers, “It got louder, and very loud at the end, and the engine quit or stalled, and I heard, like a thump -- and I thought, o no, there's an airplane down nearby.”

That's when Verkler called his neighbors to confirm he wasn't hearing things, “Well I was thinking, there’s people in trouble, there's people down on the ground and possibly need help, so I called all the neighbors and they said yes, we heard something too!”

Some of Verkler’s neighbors set off on ATV's and finally found the wreckage several hours later. Pointing, Verkler says, “Right straight out there on those tree lines, and that’s where they found it.”

Jackson County sheriff's deputies finally arrived on the scene shortly before 9:00.

Verkler says his actions Sunday night were simply a part of his civic duty, “It’s a tragic shame, things like this do happen, we wish we would have found it sooner, maybe somebody could have survived.”

Verkler says one of his neighbors, a doctor, was one of the people to find the wreckage Sunday night.

He says he's saddened by the loss of 2 lives, and only wishes he could have done more to help them.

For more further details on this crash, =>click here