Small Plane Crashes At Berkley Airstrip
BERKLEY (CBS) – A small antique plane crashed into the woods off a runway in Berkley. It happened at a small airstrip called Myricks Airport, where the pilot, Doug Cooper crashed on approach.
The noise was loud enough to be heard over Claudia Sentiger's car radio as she drove by. "We heard the crack in the tree and then we heard a thud," she says looking at the wreckage.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation sent an aeronautics inspector to the scene. "He impacted a tree somewhere in the process of his approach. From what I understand, the sun glare was pretty bad, caught a wing tip," says state investigator Richard Bunker.
WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports
Cooper, who's from Bristol, Rhode Island, had to be airlifted to a hospital with a broken leg and other injuries. His friends say he was well enough to call a friend with his cellphone after to say he had crashed. Friends say he's an experienced pilot, who's had the plane for nearly four years and keeps it at Taunton Airport.
"He knows what he's doing, but you never know. The wind can catch you and spin you around. It's unfortunate, sad, but it can happen," says Linda Craig. She owns the same kind of plane, a single engine 1947 Aeronca Champ. "It's just a recreational, light, sport plane. You wouldn't want to fly it in heavy wind," she says.
F.A.A. investigators are expected on the scene Tuesday morning.
