UPDATED: JAN 03, 2015 20:44 GMT The knock was faint. But, alerted by his two dachshunds, Larry Wilkins went to his door. He opened it to see a young girl, her lips quivering, her nose bloodied, her arms and legs scratched up. Her name was Sailor Gutzler and, somehow, she was still alive. "She told me that her mom and dad were dead," Wilkins said. "And that she had been in a plane crash." The girl's sister and cousin also died when their Piper PA-34 aircraft went down Friday evening in western Kentucky. Even with the plane upside down, the 7-year-old made it out and trekked three-quarters of a mile in the dark through what Wilkins described as "very, very rough territory," mired with fallen trees, creeks, ditches and blackberry briars. Sailor was barefoot except for one sock and was dressed for Florida -- shorts, no coat -- not for slogging through the January cold of Kentucky. Wilkins got her on his couch and called 911, alerting authorities that a plane had gone down and there was at least one survivor. Kentucky State Police troopers arrived in about 10 minutes. Sgt. Dean Patterson said the girl was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. "She's a terribly brave little girl, I'll tell you that," Wilkins said. "I can't imagine a 7-year-old doing that." FAA: Pilot reported engine problems The plane Sailor was on had left the warm, sunny climes of Key West earlier Friday, heading for Mount Vernon, Illinois, a city roughly 80 miles east of St. Louis. Until something went wrong. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen explained that air traffic controllers "lost contact with a Piper PA-34 aircraft ... shortly after the pilot reported engine problems and (said) that he was diverting to the Kentucky Dam State (Park) Airport."