Plane crash sends 1 to hospital

Published 9:27 am Saturday, June 20, 2015

A single engine airplane crashed Saturday morning at the La Grande/Union County Airport outside of La Grande.

According to Captain Craig Ward, Union County Sheriff’s office, a pilot instructor and their student had a “very rough landing,” this morning. The crash occurred around 8 a.m., according to witnesses. Ward declined to give the name of the pilot and instructor or their ages because this was not a criminal case, but said they were both local.

The student was practicing landing, according to ward, in a single-engine plalne when the engine stopped. The pilot took over at that point, Ward said.

The pilot did not want to land on the runway, so instead landed at the south end of the runway, landing upright.

Ward said the pilot was uninjured in the accident, but the student was transported to the Grande Ronde Hospital with minor injuries. The pilot and student both walked away from the plane and were talking in “complete sentences” Ward said, so the injuries were not major.

The case is under investigation.