Pilot uninjured after Plum Island plane crash
Aug. 31—NEWBURY — Plum Island Airport was temporarily closed Wednesday after a pilot crashed his single-engine plane on the grassy portion of the municipal airfield around 11:15 a.m.
The pilot, according to Newbury police Chief John Lucey Jr., was not injured but evaluated by a Newbury Fire Department medical team as a precaution.
A witness said she saw the pilot circle the airfield before coming in for a landing. But based on his angle of descent and speed, Madison Williams of Newbury said she sensed something was wrong.
"A lot faster that what seemed to be normal," Williams, who was biking past the airport, said. "Way too quickly."
Williams went to say the older looking pilot did not appear to be injured or "frazzled" after the landing the plane on its nose.
Lucey said the airport would reopen as soon as the plane, later described as a 1949 Nation single piston airplane, was towed away.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission were notified of the crash and gave the airport's manager permission to remove the plane, according to Lucey. It is unknown whether the nose's landing gear failed after it touched the ground, Lucey added.
Lucey declined to reveal the name of the pilot until later in the investigation.
Plum Island Airport has two runways, 10/28, an 2,105-foot asphalt runway, and 14/32, a 2,300-foot stretch of grass.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
