WAGONER — A homebuilt aircraft crashed just after takeoff at the Hefner-Easley Airport on Saturday morning.
Neither the pilot, Rex Niven, 55, nor his passenger, Michael Thomas Christianson, 64, were seriously injured, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:15 a.m. as the two-seated aircraft cleared the runway, said Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Hash. The engine cut out, came back on and then died again, he said.
One of the officers at the scene said the men told him they were headed for Springfield, Ark., and when they began experiencing engine problems, the pilot told his passenger, “We’re going down.”
Jason Shipman was operating a mower on the airport grounds at the time.
“I saw the plane take off and then it basically banked off on the right and went down in the trees,” Shipman said.
Trees caught the craft and cushioned the crash about 100 yards east of the north end of the runway, Hash said.
Niven sustained a gash to his head and Christianson refused treatment after the crash. Both men walked out of the woods surrounded by several emergency services workers and fire fighters.
Niven’s head was wrapped in gauze and the blood that had run down his face was already drying.
Both were taken to Wagoner Community Hospital.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the cause of the engine failure, he said.
The airplane, a Pazmany PL-2, was certified in 2005, Hash said. It was owned by Howard Thompson of Broken Arrow.
Local News
May 3, 2008
No serious injuries in Wagoner plane crash
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