The plane attained an altitude of between 30 and 50 feet, but lost power for unknown reasons and went into a slight clockwise downward spiral before hitting the ground, said Trooper Matthew Beccaccio of the highway patrol.
“The nose (of the plane) went in pretty hard,” Beccaccio said.
Ankerstar, a 1987 graduate of Lebanon High School, was first taken to Bethesda Butler County for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, which included facial lacerations and pain in his hips and shoulders, according to highway patrol dispatchers. He was then transferred to Bethesda North Hospital.
Beccaccio said Ankerstar’s father, who was on the scene of the crash, told him his son remains “pretty sore” and was expected to remain in the hospital for at least another day.
FAA records show the plane, a fixed-wing Rand-Robinson KR2, is registered to Bradley D. Ankerstar of Union Twp., Warren County, and named “Brad Ankerstar KR2.”
The single-engine aircraft was classified as airworthy on Aug. 21, 2009, according to FAA records.
The tiny one-seater, which is powered by a Volkswagen engine, had two other flights, Beccaccio said.
A 2012 flight went off without incident, but a 2010 flight resulted in an accident involving the landing gear, he said.
The FAA will conduct its own investigation, which could take several weeks, according to Tony Molinaro, an FAA spokesman out of Chicago.
“They’ll look at the aircraft, talk to the pilot, look at any maintenance records, see if there are any witnesses, things like that,” he said.
“Amateur-built aircraft” is a term used when a person constructs at least 51 percent of the plane, Molinaro said.
Just because an aircraft is amateur-built, doesn’t mean it isn’t flightworthy, Molinaro said.
“They’re perfectly airborne aircraft and they fly thousands and thousands of hours all over the country all the time,” he said.
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