1 dead, 1 injured after plane crashes
NEAR MORTON, Wash. -- One person has died and another injured after a plane crashed just outside of Morton on Friday night.
Lewis County sheriff's deputies said a single-engine Cirrus SR22 plane clipped several trees and a chicken coop before nose-diving into the driveway of a home along Highway 508 approximately 1.5 miles west of Morton at around 7:15 p.m.
The pilot, an unidentified man, was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
According to witness Jim Ecklund, the low-flying plane flew over his own house and crashed near his neighbor's home.
"All of us were having a kind of a picnic around the barbecue pit, and we just heard this noise, looked up and there was a plane coming across over the top of us," he said. "And I thought, 'Man, that's real low,' and I could see the driver in it. And after it went by, we heard a big boom."
Investigators believe the passengers of the plane were traveling for business purposes at the time of the crash. The plane went down near Strom Field Airport, but it is not known whether the plane had taken off from or was planning to land at the airport.
The cause of the crash has not been determined, and the investigation is ongoing.
The plane is registered to Washtuncna Aviation LLC in Bellevue.
Lewis County sheriff's deputies said a single-engine Cirrus SR22 plane clipped several trees and a chicken coop before nose-diving into the driveway of a home along Highway 508 approximately 1.5 miles west of Morton at around 7:15 p.m.
The pilot, an unidentified man, was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
According to witness Jim Ecklund, the low-flying plane flew over his own house and crashed near his neighbor's home.
"All of us were having a kind of a picnic around the barbecue pit, and we just heard this noise, looked up and there was a plane coming across over the top of us," he said. "And I thought, 'Man, that's real low,' and I could see the driver in it. And after it went by, we heard a big boom."
Investigators believe the passengers of the plane were traveling for business purposes at the time of the crash. The plane went down near Strom Field Airport, but it is not known whether the plane had taken off from or was planning to land at the airport.
The cause of the crash has not been determined, and the investigation is ongoing.
The plane is registered to Washtuncna Aviation LLC in Bellevue.