Vintage plane crashes near Clark Fork
--Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD
A Montana Rail Link employee surveys the wreckage of a plane that crashed southeast of Clark Fork on Monday.
By KEITH KINNAIRD
News editor
Witnesses said pilot was attempting to land
CLARK FORK -- A pilot from Montana was injured Monday after crashing his vintage plane at a private airstrip next to the Clark Fork River.
Witnesses told Bonner County Sheriff's deputies they saw the pilot's Cessna start to touch down on the grass airstrip, but the plane started to sway back and forth. The plane took to the air again, but stalled and crashed about 300 yards from the east end of the airstrip, the witnesses said.
The 58-year-old pilot from Heron reportedly pulled himself from the wreckage. Sheriff's officials said he complained of a chest injury and was taken by Clark Fork Valley Ambulance to Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint.
The pilot's name was not released and his condition was not available late Monday.
The crash happened shortly before 2 p.m. at the airstrip off River Lake Drive, on the south side of the river. The 1952 Cessna 107B plowed nose-first into a field next to the Montana Rail Link railroad tracks and buckled in half.
Conrad Schempp was working in his hangar next to the strip when he heard the unmistakable sound of trouble.
"I just heard the noise," he said. "There are noises you ignore and then there are noises where you say, 'That doesn't sound right.'"
Firefighters from the Clark Fork Valley Fire Department and Sam Owen Fire District responded to the scene.
Clark Fork Valley Chief George Cordingly said the pilot was lucky the plane did not burst into flames after it crashed. Fires are known to start when airplane fuel comes into contact with hot motors and manifolds, he said.
"The fuel did not get on the engine," Cordingly said.
The pilot's wife, according to sheriff's officials, said the plane was being stored in Bonners Ferry and it was its first flight of the season. Word among bystanders at the crash scene was that the plane had been recently restored.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash, the sheriff's office said.
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