Authorities say the plane was “hanging in the trees” before it fell to the ground. The pilot, Bradley Marston, 62, of Windham, was not seriously injured. Courtesy of Maine State Police
A pilot escaped with minor injuries after his engine failed following takeoff and the plane landed in trees off North Road in Limington on Thursday.
“The pilot who was walking around the scene identified himself as 62-year-old Bradley Marston, of Windham,” Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said in a statement. “Mr. Marston stated he had just taken off from the Limington Airport when he had engine failure and the plane crashed less than a mile west of the airport.”
When a trooper arrived at the crash site near the Moy Mo Da Yo Recreational Area, she observed a bright yellow plane nose-down into the ground in the woods. Medical personnel evaluated Marston, who was transported to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Moss said.
The crash was reported around 12:30 p.m. Thursday. The plane landed in tree tops next to a clearing in the woods near the intersection of North and Sutton Hill roads. Marston was the plane’s only occupant.
Marston did not appear to be seriously injured, Emil Braley, Limington’s fire chief and emergency management director, said in a telephone interview Thursday night.
“He got out of the plane on his own,” said Braley, whose department responded to the crash site with a fire engine and ambulance.
Braley said the plane was “hanging in the trees” before it fell to the ground.
Braley said he heard the pilot say that he had just taken off from the Limington-Harmon airport before the crash. The small airfield on about 43 acres in northern York County has one 3,000-foot, paved runway. Braley said the airport is not manned, but is used by pilots for landings and takeoffs. There also are several hangars at the airport.
Details about the aircraft and what caused the crash were not available Thursday.
Braley said the crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and that an investigator had arrived in Limington Thursday night.
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