Pilot Uninjured In Plane Crash At Merritt Island Airport
By Space Coast Daily // October 23, 2012
Landing Gear Not Lowered
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – A pilot walked away injured after crashing a small plane at the Merritt Island Airport shortly before noon Tuesday.
Lt. Jeff Taylor of Brevard County Fire Rescue said crews were dispatched to the airport at 11:42 a.m. Tuesday regarding a plane crash.
Units from Station 43, located adjacent to the airport, responded to the scene and arrived within one minute of receiving the call.
Taylor said when crews arrived on scene they found a single-engine Cessna 177 RG airplane sitting upright on the runway with minor damage to the propeller and bottom of the plane.
“The airplane, which seats four, had only the 60-year-old male pilot on board,” he said. “He was uninjured and able to walk away from the incident though he was visibly shaken by the event.”
Witnesses told firefighters that the plane was attempting to land and bypassed the airport on its first attempt. The pilot raised the landing gear as he circled the airport and on his second approach apparently failed to lower the gear prior to landing.
Airport officials described the pilot as “new” and cite pilot error as the cause of the crash.
The plane had been rented from Voyager Aviation Inc., based at Merritt Island Airport.
No damage estimate to the airplane was immediately available.
Taylor sad that fire crews assisted airport officials and member of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Aviation unit in removing the airplane from the runway.
The airport was shut down for about a half hour as a result of the incident.
