Wyoming Pilot Bails Out To Survive
According to the Star Valley Independent, a single-engine plane crashed Monday afternoon, without its pilot. He jumped before the plane hit the ground.
Local residents saw that the plane was in trouble and heading nose down toward the ground. It hit hard in a field and calls were made to emergency officials.
The plane was not on fire, but the local fire department doused it as a precaution. While they were doing that others went off to find the pilot.
A caller to my morning radio show let me know that the plane was a Husky, built here in Wyoming. It was on a test flight, which is why the pilot was wearing a chute. They were testing stalls and the plane got into a stall/spin that the pilot could not recover from.
Lincoln County Sheriff Shane Johnson said the pilot has back injuries, but overall he will be fine. The pilot parachuted out as the plane was going down.
As with any incident involving a plane crash this has been turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration for review.
You can see in the photos from the Star Valley Independent that the plane was not a big one. Just a little bush plane. That means easy to jump out of. That would also be why the pilot was wearing a parachute in the first place.
Something new in general aviation today - the pilots are no longer wearing chutes. In today's modern, small, single engine planes it is the plane itself that has the chute. You can see what that looks like by following this link.