Aug, 2017

A pilot and his wife were treated for minor injuries received when their vintage airplane crashed Saturday morning while landing at the Ashland County Airport during Ashland Veterans Appreciation Day.

Guy  Pepitone and his wife, who was a passenger in the place, suffered cuts and bruises from the crash. They were upside down in the two-seat plane when they were rescued by bystanders and transported to University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center in Ashland.

Airport manager Denny Baum said the Federal Aviation Administration was contacted about the crash.

“You call the FAA whenever there is an accident,” he said. “Whether the FAA decides to send someone in person is entirely up to them. Right now, the sheriff’s office is investigating.”

The crash occurred in front of several hundred people about 11:15 a.m. as the plane attempted to land on the north-south runway from the north. The pilot lost control and the plane went off the pavement and into a grassy area between the airport’s two runways. When the plane’s nose dug into the ground, the plane flipped over and came to rest on its glass canopy.

Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Carl Richert said after the plane’s wheels made contact with the runway, the aircraft started to wobble back and forth before leaving the runway into the grassy median where it eventually came to rest upside down.

Baum said the plane was traveling to Ashland from Wadsworth using visual flight rules.

“It’s the pilot’s choice how he lands,” Baum said about the approach to land from the north.

With the pair suffering non-life threatening injuries, the airport remained open and the day’s activities at Veterans Appreciation Day went on as planned.

Baum said the plane was traveling to Ashland from Wadsworth using visual flight rules.

“It’s the pilot’s choice how he lands,” Baum said about the approach to land from the north.

With the pair suffering non-life threatening injuries, the airport remained open and the day’s activities at Veterans Appreciation Day went on as planned.

In addition to Ashland County Sheriff’s Office deputies, troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol also responded to the scene.