Plane crashes near Moses Lake
The remains of an ultralight plane that crashed Monday morning near the Moses Lake Municipal Airport. Two men walked away from the crash with minor injuries.
The remnants of an ultralight plane crash near the Moses Lake Municipal Airport Monday morning. The two occupants of the plane walked away with minor injuries.
EPHRATA - A student pilot and his instructor received minor injuries Monday morning when the ultralight aircraft they were flying crashed near Moses Lake.
Student pilot Samuel P. Clark, 58, La Center, and instructor Daryl Jackson, 70, Moses Lake, were flying Clark's ultralight aircraft around 9 a.m. when the engine experienced trouble, according to Grant County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Ken Jones.
The engine problem occurred soon after they had taken off from the Moses Lake Municipal Airport and they attempted to land in a wheat field along Road L Northeast, just east of Road 4 Northeast.
The aircraft hit the ground and flipped onto its top. Fuel spilled from the tank and ignited, according to the sheriff's office. The fire was confined to the aircraft and extinguished by Moses Lake and Grant County Fire District 5 firefighters.
Jackson, who is the manager of the Jackson Flight Center, received burns to his right arm and Clark received cuts and bruises, Jones said. Both were treated at the scene before Jackson was taken by private vehicle Samaritan Hospital. Clark declined further treatment.
"Dad's alright, he's home resting with some first and second degree burns," Daryl Jackson's son Darrin Jackson said Monday afternoon.
He said Clark was flying the plane for the third time. It's a used aircraft with roughly 300 flying hours logged.
He was heading to his home airport in Longview.
Darrin Jackson said this season has been a tough one for pilots in the Columbia Basin, with 10 crop duster planes downed in recent months.
"It's still far safer to fly than to drive," he added.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating, Darrin Jackson said.