Robert T. Schmidt

Robert T. Schmidt helped to save Robert Fiske from burning, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, October 5, 2009. Fiske, 66, was the lone occupant of a twin-engine airplane that lost power while in flight. The plane crash-landed in a wooded ravine, trapping Fiske inside, and flames broke out at the right side of the fuselage, near the wing. Schmidt, 64, real estate developer, was in his nearby home and heard the crash. He ran to the scene and, seeing Fiske inside the plane, mounted the left wing. Schmidt tried to gain access to the smoke-filled cabin by attempting to open its canopy and breaking out a window, but he was not successful. Another man who responded to the scene joined Schmidt on the wing, and he too attempted to break into the cabin. The two men then obtained a metal bar from the plane’s nearby storage compartment and with it broke through the window. They then reached inside the plane and pulled Fiske out onto the wing. Flames had grown to reach into the trees, and they breached the cabin from its right side. Schmidt and the other man lowered Fiske to the ground and, with the help of others who were responding, carried him from the ravine to safety. Fiske was hospitalized for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash and for smoke inhalation. He recovered. Schmidt sustained lacerations to his hands, and he too recovered.