7. Pilot dies when home-built plane crashes short of runway at Tulip City Airport
on October 06, 2011 at 11:15 PM, updated October 07, 2011 at 10:13 AM
HOLLAND -- A Gobles man who had been doing touch-and-go landings at the Tulip City Airport Thursday night fell short of the runway on one of his passes, crashing the home-built plane.
The man, identified only as being in his 60s, died at the scene, authorities said.
The crash happened about 6:45 p.m.
One person witnessed the crash and called police. Rescue workers who responded to the scene found the plane upside down, near the runway.
According to an Federal Aviation Registry web site, the craft is an experimental Q200 plane.
It's registered to a Gobles man, and police believe the man who was piloting the plane is the owner. The pilot was the only person aboard when it crashed.
The man's family was notified of his death, said Holland Police Sgt. Drew Torres.
Federal Aviation Administration officials will now take over the investigation, and the plane's wreckage is to be towed from the scene.
The crash marks the second crash of an experimental plane in Allegan County in two weeks.
On Sept. 23, Bill Beswick, 73, of the Holland area, died while trying to land his Thorp T-18 single engine plane at the Plainwell airport. The craft hit the back of a FedEx truck on U.S. 131, which runs next to Plainwell Municipal Airport, amid foggy conditions.
A National Transportation Safety Board report released Wednesday found no mechanical defects in Beswick's plane