Two people suffered major injuries when their plane crashed just
outside the South County Airport in San Martin Wednesday
afternoon.
Two people suffered major injuries when their plane crashed just outside the South County Airport in San Martin Wednesday afternoon.
A two-seat, single-engine propeller plane was taking off from the airport shortly after 3 p.m. when it apparently experienced a power failure and was forced to crash land in a field just north of the airport.
Both the 47-year-old pilot and his 46-year-old female passenger were taken by medical helicopter Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, said Deputy Terrance Helm, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman. The names of the two victims were not released. The man was able to walk from the plane, which was damaged but not demolished.
Steve Eckman, a Gilroy resident, was driving east on San Martin Avenue toward U.S. 101 when he saw the American Yankee struggling to lift off.
The plane appeared to be at too steep of an angle, Eckman said, which caught his attention.
“I thought, ’Oh my gosh, this guy’s going to stall out,’ and you looked at his (propeller) and you could see that he wasn’t getting enough power,” Eckman said. “I knew he was (going to crash-land). There was no way that he was going to be able to fly that airplane any longer.”
The plane landed in a field, sending up a large cloud of dust, Eckman said. The point of impact was fewer than 100 yards from a large oak tree.
“He hit hard,” Eckman said. “He knew that he wasn’t going to get beyond the yard there, so he put it down right in here.”
After impact, the American Yankee skidded across Diessner Avenue and into a fence bordering a county maintenance yard. The landing gear broke off and the plane came to rest on its belly directly under a power line. Diessner Avenue was empty at the time and is rarely used, according to Capt. Rick Wennekamp of the California Department of Forestry/South Santa Clara County Fire Department.
Eckman drove to the plane to help the victims.
“They both were just stunned,” he said. Eckman could not immediately open the cockpit and borrowed tools from another passerby to force it open.
He worked quickly, worried that the small plane could catch fire.
“I could smell gas, I was really concerned about it,” Eckman said. “Thank God it didn’t catch on fire.”
The aircraft was leaking fuel when fire crews arrived on scene, Wennekamp said.
The female passenger remained in the plane until fire personnel could safely extricate her. The woman was complaining of back pain, Wennekamp said.
After removing the woman, fire crews sprayed the spillage with foam and later covered it with sand to soak up the fuel.
A dog also was in the plane during the crash, housed in a travel kennel stored behind the passenger’s seat. It was handed over to animal control.
The pilot and passenger, who are residents of Eagle Point, Ore., had made a brief stop at the airport, according to Frank Gargiulo, vice president of 2 Genes Aviation. It is unknown if the pilot filed a flight plan.
“Most pilots don’t file a flight plan,” said Donn Walker, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident.
