Plane blown off runway

A SMALL PLANE CRASHED NOSE FIRST — into a sandy gully about 100 feet from the runway at the Eastern Slope Airport in Fryeburg, last week. Here, Fryeburg Fire Chief Ozzie Sheaff examines the downed plane for fluid leaks. (Ackley Photo)

By Lisa Williams Ackley

Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — The pilot of a single-engine plane escaped injury, after a strong gust of wind lifted it and caused it to twist in a corkscrew-like manner as he was attempting to land at Eastern Slope Airport, last week, police said.

Fryeburg Police Chief Philip Weymouth said the pilot of the Aviat Husky bush plane, Laurence Ketner of Norway, a retired pharmacist, was uninjured. The police chief said Ketner was the sole occupant of the plane, when it crash-landed in a sandy gully about 100 feet from the runway shortly after noon on July 20.

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the crash landing.

Chief Weymouth said Ketner was making a second attempt to land the plane when the crosswind blew it off the runway. Weymouth said the plane was just about to touch down when a strong gust of wind “spun it like a corkscrew” and it slid along the ground on its right wing and wheel but did not flip over. The police chief said the plane’s landing gear “buckled” when it crashed.