- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Clearlake Oaks plane crash under investigation, pilot hospitalized
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities are investigating what led to a pilot crashing a small plane into a vineyard in Clearlake Oaks on Tuesday night.
The male pilot survived the crash and was able to walk away from it, but later was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries, as Lake County News has reported.
The name of the pilot has not been released, and neither local nor federal authorities had information on the man's condition on Wednesday.
Ian Gregor, spokesman for the FAA Pacific Division, said the student pilot was flying a single-engine Cessna 152 when he declared an emergency and crashed under unknown circumstances about 15 miles east of Lampson Field Airport at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The plane is registered to a San Jose resident, but authorities would not confirm if the owner was the same individual as the pilot.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office, Northshore Fire, Cal Fire and the California Highway Patrol responded to the report of the downed plane off of Morine Ranch Road and Red Rock Road, based on reports from the scene.
Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Steve Brooks said the two-seater Cessna hit power lines in the Shannon Ridge Vineyards before going down.
Brooks said the plane was en route to San Jose when the pilot became lost over Lake County.
The plane then had engine trouble, which caused the pilot to fly into power lines before he landed the Cessna in thick brush, Brooks said.
The pilot was able to get out of the plane and a deputy assisted with getting him to medics, Brooks said.
Radio reports indicated Northshore Fire medics took the pilot to a landing zone set up at Orchard Shores in Clearlake Oaks, where a REACH 6 air ambulance picked him up for the flight to the trauma center.
A small vegetation fire was reported at the crash scene, with firefighters quickly knocking it down.
Northshore Fire Chief Jay Beristianos said that after mop up firefighters cleared the scene while sheriff's deputies waited for federal investigators to arrive.
At about the same time as the crash there were reports of brief power outages in parts of the county. However, on Wednesday Pacific Gas and Electric wasn't able to confirm a possible connection between the outages and the crash.
Gregor said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will handle the accident investigation.
The Tuesday incident was the third plane crash in seven years in the county, based on a review of local records.
Two men were killed in a crash involving a glider and a tow plane in Middletown in November 2009, and a Bay Area man was seriously injured after crashing his single-engine plane into a vineyard outside of Lakeport in September 2011, as Lake County News has reported.
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