RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - Today around 10:35 in the morning the Lassen County sheriff’s office received a call that there was an over-turned aircraft at Deerwater Air Field in Sierraville.
Deerwater Field is a landing strip only with a taxi way and parking for small aircraft. Responding personnel included the sheriff’s office, Sierra County Fire, the Eastern Plumas-Loyalton Ambulance, United States Forest Service, the California Highway Patrol and later investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration out of their Reno, NV, office. A Grass Valley couple visiting the Sierra Hot Springs near by witnessed the accident and said the plane had flown in at least once prior, landed and took off again.
Then it flew around the last time and was rolling down the runway when it began bouncing and very slowly flipped nose over. They said the pilot, and sole occupant, exited and began yelling in obvious frustration. The Truckee area pilot, who requested to remain anonymous for any press releases said “I really don’t want my friends to read my name in the paper. I have been a pilot for many years and this is just really embarrassing!”
He was interviewed by the Sheriff’s Detective Mike Fisher, notably also a pilot, and later by F.A.A. personnel. In essence the pilot said he was doing practice landings when he lost control of the plane and it veered left off the runway. He applied engine power and tried to lift off however he just barely clipped the runway enclosed barbed-wire-fence which caused him to bounce off into the sage brush. The plane then nosed-over upside down. He said he was uninjured and just glad to be able to walk away. The cause of the accident is being handled by the F.A.A.
