Authorities say two people escaped serious injury when engine failure sent their small airplane crashing Monday morning during a landing attempt at a Brainerd area airport.
Plane crash near Brainerd is 3rd in Minnesota within 3 days
Two unhurt in latest aviation incident.
July 30, 2018 at 11:28PM
The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft went down about 4 miles south of Brainerd, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. Investigators were on the way to the scene to determine the cause.
The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office identified the plane's occupants as Vincent and Jody Facchiano, both 60 and from Belvidere, Ill. Emergency audio dispatch indicated authorities were picking up the couple's luggage and bringing it to them at a hospital. The Facchianos were being treated for minor injuries.
The plane fell about 1.4 miles short of the runway and landed in the woods, the Sheriff's Office said. Pilot Vincent Facchiano told investigators that the plane experienced engine failure upon approach.
Monday's crash was the third in as many days in Minnesota.
Over the weekend, two small planes crashed 24 hours apart in Douglas County in western Minnesota, killing one of the pilots, authorities said Sunday.
About 7:30 p.m. Saturday, several witnesses notified 911 that a plane crashed at Townhall Road and 10th Avenue SW. in LaGrande Township, the county Sheriff's Office said. Emergency personnel arrived and found that the pilot, Kenneth J. Ryan, 64, of Alexandria, had already died, the Sheriff's Office said.
"The plane appears to have struck an [electrical] power pole before landing in the west ditch off of Townhall Road," it said in a statement.
The first crash happened about 7 p.m. Friday when the plane lost power and made an emergency landing into Lake Winona just west of Alexandria, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Pilot Maxwell D. Guderian, 18, of Minnetonka, was standing atop the single-engine plane when emergency personnel arrived.
Guderian was conducting touch-and-go maneuvers at the Alexandria Airport at the time, the Sheriff's Office said.
Federal authorities are looking into both incidents.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
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