OCR Text |
Show Near Airport Hour Injured as Plane Crashes Near Escalante Jerald Johnson, Escalante airport manager, inspects wreckage of Cessna 172 which crashed near airport. Four New Mexico residents escapnj with minor injuries. Plane was termed a total loss and investigation corfliiiuos. ESCALANTE Four people from New Mexico narrowly escaped serious injury when their Cessna 172 Skyhawk airplane crash-landed 60 yards from the end of the Escalante Airport runway Sunday afternoon about 5 p.m. According to airport manager, Jerald Johnson, pilot Brant C. Calkin and his three passengers had just departed for the return flight home after a week-end of backpacking when his plane lost its lift and was forced to land. Although the plane had decelerated considerably before impact, the nose gear was sheared off causing the aircraft to flip over and land on its back. The passengers were able to extricate themselves from the wreckage and Calkin walked back to the airport to reort the accident. One woman passneger in a back seat suffered a head injury when she apparently hit the seat in front of her. She was examined by nurse Sherri Woolsey before being transported to Garfield County Memorial Hospital in Panguitch for further treatment. Johnson, who has managed the airport since 1974, stated that this was only the third accident at the facility, and the first time a plane has been "totalled". He said the other two accidents were the results of pilot error and damage to those planes was repairable. |