A pilot and a passenger suffered life-threatening injuries Sunday afternoon when their single-engine plane crashed near a home shortly after taking off from the Burlington Municipal Airport.
The pilot and passenger were both conscious when Racine County Sheriff’s deputies and rescue crews arrived following a report of the crash at 2:40 p.m. Sunday, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Both occupants had to be extricated from the plane and were transported from the scene by Flight for Life helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Wausatosa, according to the officials.
Witnesses said the plane had taken off and was having a difficult time gaining altitude, according to the Sheriff’s Office. After narrowly missing a tree line, the plane crashed into a residential neighborhood south of the airport, narrowly missing a house.
A photo supplied by the Sheriff’s Office shows the plane upside down nestled between a tree and the deck in the backyard of the home.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were both notified and are handling the investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office, which declined to provide additional information.
It is the second plane crash near the Burlington Municipal Airport in less than three months. David Schmutzler, 80, of Port Washington, died May 15 at Froedtert Hospital as a result of injuries suffered in a crash that occurred in a wooded area just east of the airport.
Schmutzler had flown from West Bend to Burlington that day to work with a mechanic who had recently installed a piece of equipment on the plane, his wife Barbara Bode said
Schmutzler was in Burlington most of the afternoon, she said, and was on his way back to West Bend when he experienced problems with the plane. He turned around and was headed back to the airport when the crash occurred.
For a full report on Sunday’s crash see the Aug. 13 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
-
-
-
-
-