PORT TOWNSEND — Three people escaped serious injury in a plane crash after the engine stopped as their aircraft approached Jefferson International Airport.
One person had minor scrapes and bruises Sunday afternoon, but none of the people involved were treated at a hospital, said Patricia Willestoft, the acting public information officer for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
The crash, just shy of the runway, occurred about 4:20 p.m. near 191 Airport Cutoff Road.
The plane was a fixed-wing, single-engine Cessna 172G registered to Byron Clark of Olympia, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
Willestoft said the FAA was notified after the crash.
A man was flying with his wife and son, both of whom were taken to the Chimacum fire station. The pilot remained at the scene to make arrangements for the damaged plane, Willestoft said.
The pilot, who was not identified by East Jefferson Fire-Rescue (EJFR), had scheduled a stop in Jefferson County from Friday Harbor and planned to continue on to Olympia, she said.
“He was in the flight pattern for landing there, and he was just getting ready — what they call ‘on base’ — and just before turning onto the runway itself, the engine stopped,” Willestoft said. “At that point, he didn’t know why, but he knew it wasn’t because he was out of gas.”
The plane remained on the scene Monday in the brush just off state Highway 19 near the water catch basin.
“There was traffic on the highway at the time, but he was off just far enough that he wasn’t going to clip his wing,” Willestoft said.
Once the man was reunited with his family at the fire station, EJFR helped them get to Olympia.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the State Patrol also responded to the crash.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at [email protected].
