Plane collides with pickup truck while landing, pilot killed

Plane collides with pickup truck while landing, pilot killed

LEDGEVIEW, Wis. – The pilot of a small plane died Thursday when his aircraft slammed into a pickup truck as he tried to land at a grass airstrip in Wisconsin.

The driver of the pickup was critically injured, authorities say.

The incident remains under investigation by the Brown County Sheriff's Office and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Authorities said the pilot, John Fiddelke of Ledgeview, died at the scene.

Aaron Sauer, an NTSB air safety investigator, said Fiddelke was flying his Aeronca 7AC single-engine aircraft northbound toward a grass runway near Fonferek's Glen southeast of Green Bay at 4:50 p.m. Thursday.

Sauer said witnesses reported the airplane was at an altitude of just 5 feet as it crossed a county road near the airstrip and struck a westbound pickup truck.

The driver of the pickup was rushed to a local hospital, where he is being treated for serious injuries, authorities said.

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A small airplane crashed into a yard Thursday at Dutchman Road and Hidden Valley Lane in the town of Ledgeview
A small airplane crashed into a yard Thursday at Dutchman Road and Hidden Valley Lane in the town of Ledgeview

Debris from the crash, including the aircraft's engine and parts of the truck, ended up in the road and a ditch. The majority of the aircraft ended up on top of the truck in the front yard of a house next to the runway.

Sauer said the aircraft was recently inspected, and maintenance records were found at the scene of the crash.

The full investigation is expected to take six months to a year to complete, Sauer said.

Brown County sheriff's Lt. Tom Zeigle said the sheriff's office's investigation will focus on the condition of the truck at the time of the crash in concert with NTSB's examination of the aircraft.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Plane collides with pickup while landing in Wisconsin, killing pilot