Video~Crash into cornfield by CT Monroe Michigan
Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:31 pm
http://www.monroenews.com/news/2012/aug ... -injuries/
A small plane crashed on landing at a private airstrip in Ida Township Sunday, sending its two occupants to the hospital with minor injuries and causing power outages in the area, reported Sgt. Jeff Kemp of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Wilbert Matthes, 84, of Ida and owner of the Matthes Evergreen Farm on Lulu Rd., piloted the single-engine experimental plane with co-pilot and grandson Ian Zawacki, 20, of Monroe. As the plane approached the landing strip at a private airport on Saum Rd. about 8:30 p.m., the landing gear caught on a power line, forcing the plane to nose-dive into a cornfield, Sgt. Kemp said. Mr. Matthes and Mr. Zawacki suffered minor injuries and were transported to Mercy Memorial Hospital as a precautionary measure. The power line became tangled in the wreckage and caused some power outage
MONROE, Mich. — A man who recorded video while the small plane piloted by his grandfather crashed as they tried to land in southeastern Michigan said he still can't believe what happened.
Ian Zawacki, 20 and his sister Lindsey Zawacki, 15, look over the damaged airplane Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, that crashed Sunday night while Ian was a passenger.
Sunday night's crash into a corn field happened in Monroe County, about 40 miles southwest of Detroit.
"I'm so lucky to be alive," Ian Zawacki, 20, of Monroe, told The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/O5HTzt ). "God was looking over me and my grandpa."
The sheriff's department said the single-engine plane was piloted by Wilbert Matthes, 84, of Ida. He was hospitalized with a possible broken sternum. Zawacki, the co-pilot, recorded video of the attempted landing that was released by the sheriff's department.
They were trying to reach a small airport when a landing gear caught the power line north of the landing strip. Zawacki, who had minor injuries to his shins and shoulders, helped his grandfather escape from the wreckage.
Les Grodi, who witnessed the accident and owns the landing strip, said Matthes is a friend who has used the airport dozens of times.
"Everything was perfect but they were 10 feet too low," Grodi said. "The wing hit first. If it came down nose-first it would have been much worse."
A small plane crashed on landing at a private airstrip in Ida Township Sunday, sending its two occupants to the hospital with minor injuries and causing power outages in the area, reported Sgt. Jeff Kemp of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Wilbert Matthes, 84, of Ida and owner of the Matthes Evergreen Farm on Lulu Rd., piloted the single-engine experimental plane with co-pilot and grandson Ian Zawacki, 20, of Monroe. As the plane approached the landing strip at a private airport on Saum Rd. about 8:30 p.m., the landing gear caught on a power line, forcing the plane to nose-dive into a cornfield, Sgt. Kemp said. Mr. Matthes and Mr. Zawacki suffered minor injuries and were transported to Mercy Memorial Hospital as a precautionary measure. The power line became tangled in the wreckage and caused some power outage
MONROE, Mich. — A man who recorded video while the small plane piloted by his grandfather crashed as they tried to land in southeastern Michigan said he still can't believe what happened.
Ian Zawacki, 20 and his sister Lindsey Zawacki, 15, look over the damaged airplane Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, that crashed Sunday night while Ian was a passenger.
Sunday night's crash into a corn field happened in Monroe County, about 40 miles southwest of Detroit.
"I'm so lucky to be alive," Ian Zawacki, 20, of Monroe, told The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/O5HTzt ). "God was looking over me and my grandpa."
The sheriff's department said the single-engine plane was piloted by Wilbert Matthes, 84, of Ida. He was hospitalized with a possible broken sternum. Zawacki, the co-pilot, recorded video of the attempted landing that was released by the sheriff's department.
They were trying to reach a small airport when a landing gear caught the power line north of the landing strip. Zawacki, who had minor injuries to his shins and shoulders, helped his grandfather escape from the wreckage.
Les Grodi, who witnessed the accident and owns the landing strip, said Matthes is a friend who has used the airport dozens of times.
"Everything was perfect but they were 10 feet too low," Grodi said. "The wing hit first. If it came down nose-first it would have been much worse."