One person was transported to a hospital via a Life Flight helicopter following a plane crash that occurred on the approach path just south of the Chehalis-Centralia Airport early in the afternoon on Thursday, Sept. 11, Chehalis Police Deputy Chief Matt McKnight — a first responder on the scene — told The Chronicle.
As of Friday at about noon, the pilot’s medical status was unknown, according to McKnight.
He added he expected Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board officials to be on the scene on Friday to begin their investigation.
According to a Chehalis Police Department news release, officers were dispatched to the scene at 12:14 p.m.
“Upon arrival, officers discovered that an experimental aircraft had gone down in a field near the Chehalis River and state Route 6,” the release stated. “The pilot, a 55 year-old male, was rescued and treated by members of the Chehalis Fire Department before being transported for further medical care.”
The term “experimental” refers to the FAA’s airworthiness certificate classification of the aircraft — which are aircraft used strictly for a variety of non-commercial purposes ranging from personal use or air show demonstration to flight training and component testing, according to the FAA’s website.
Experimental aircraft are popular among aviation enthusiasts due to their lower costs and can be purchased either completely assembled in a factory, or as a kit for the pilot to build.
The release added drugs and alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the crash and aside from the pilot, no other passengers were in the plane.
The Chehalis Police Department thanked the public for its patience while state Route 6 was closed, along with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and the Washington state Department of Corrections for their assistance with the crash investigation — which is still ongoing. No other information was given.
While no details are known as to the pilot’s identity, exact type of aircraft or cause of the crash, the wreckage of what appeared to be a small, single-engined, propeller-driven, fixed-wing aircraft with a white and red paint scheme was found on the approach path just north of state Route 6 in Chehalis and south of Northwest Shoreline Drive near the bank of the Chehalis River.
