Homemade Plane Crashes In Butler Co. Field, Pilot Suffers Bump On The Head
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PENN TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- A pilot was injured when his experimental, homemade plane went down in a Butler County pasture late Thursday morning.
Emergency dispatchers reported just before 11:30 a.m. that a small plane landed in a field in some trees on Royal Oak Drive in Penn Township, just south of the Butler County airport.
Sources at the scene of the plane crash say the pilot spent nearly 20 years building the homemade aircraft, which began to lose power minutes after taking off at the Butler County Airport.
The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in an open field, walking away from the scene with just a cut on his head.
John Ehrhart was cutting the grass when he heard a loud crash.
"I said, 'Is that a plane? Yeah, that's a plane,'" he said. "We called 911 and I ran over, and the guy was fine. Had a bump on his head, and other than that, was fine."
Carissa Spencer was at work when she got a call from her mom.
"So I rushed home and found this in my pasture," she said. "It's a pretty boring neighborhood, so that was our excitement for the week."
The pilot of the plane took off in his car and did not speak to reporters.
"I'm kind of surprised. I've been living here 60 years, and this is the first time it's happened this close," said neighbor John Herman.
The plane was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is now investigating the incident.
Penn Township police say the pilot will not be cited since he did what he was supposed to do and landed in an open field.