Glider crashes at Ephrata airport

Pilot survives, crash under investigation

EPHRATA - A frequent flyer at the Ephrata Airport crashed his glider over the weekend.

Nelson Funston, 69, Mercer Island, was flying his Nimbus 4 glider and crashed near takeoff Sunday afternoon, said Port of Ephrata Manager Mike Wren.

He survived the crash with head and facial lacerations and back pain, Ephrata Police Chief Joe Varick said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident, Wren added.

He said the crash was not related to the aerobatics camp which was based at the airport for about a week.

"This was strictly a glider flight," Wren said. "Obviously the aerobatics guys, they were all getting ready to go home."

Funston was transported to Columbia Basin Hospital for initial treatment and was later transported to Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle, Varick said.

"I spoke with him at the hospital and he was complaining of a sore back, but I heard this morning they (moved) him out to Harborview Medical Center," Wren said Monday. "He flies here a lot. I'm sure he was going to go up and just go fly like he always does. He's very experienced and been around here a long time."

Reached at his hospital room in Harborview Medical Center, where he was listed in satisfactory condition. Funston said he expected to have to fill out a report for the safety board.

There were quite a few witnesses in the crowd, he added, and the plane didn't go too far.

"Everything that happened was quite visible," Funston said.

He noted the airport changed its operational procedure and added obstacles on the ramp. While not the cause, Funston said, "It was certainly a complicating factor."

Wren declined to comment on Funston's remark.

It's the first crash at the airport since Wren took over as port manager in 2005.

As part of port procedure, whoever sees a crash first calls emergency services, Wren explained.

"After that, you're securing the wreckage and notifying the FAA and the NTSB to come out, do any investigations they need before anything's disturbed," he said. "The NTSB or FAA, they'll work together to take statements from the guys who saw it happen, go out and look at the wreckage, interview the pilot, take some measurements where the aircraft hit, different spots, stuff like that. Then they correlate all that data together and come up with, as best they can, what the cause was."

Once the organizations release the crash site, Wren planned to clear the wreckage Monday.

"We've talked to some of the glider guys that are going to come out and help disassemble it and see what they can put away," he said. "Just clear it off the airfield."

When Wren hears about a situation like this, he said his first thought is hope the pilot is alive.

"Then after that, it's just stuff," he said. "The important thing is that the pilot was safe. That's the big thing."

Three Ephrata Police Department officers, the Ephrata Fire Department and emergency medical services responded, Varick said.