Small plane crashes into house, pilot survives
By Melica Johnson KATU News and KATU.com StaffAURORA, Ore. - A small plane crashed into a home near the Aurora Airport Friday afternoon, but the pilot walked away from the wreckage. MultimediaThe aircraft was a single-engine light plane known as a Aeronca Champ 7-AE. Aurora is a small town located about 25 miles south of Portland. The plane impacted a house. Photos from the scene showed the plane's tail section sticking out of the roof of the home on Cessna Street. A woman in the home was not hurt. The pilot, George Bahrman, 70 and from Lake Oswego, was in serious condition at OHSU, according to officials there in the afternoon. But an FAA official described his injuries as non-life threatening later in the day. The woman who lives in the house, Sally Jones, was uninjured. She was lucky, too, because she was walking outside her front door when the plane hit. “I heard, ‘rrrr’ and I thought, ‘too close, too low.’ And bam! The impact knocked me off my porch – about four feet down and six feet over,” said Jones. She said she was surprised when she went back inside her house and saw the nose of an airplane in her living room. She was even more shocked when she saw the pilot sitting on the edge of her roof. She said Bahrman was in shock, but when she asked if he was OK, he said he “was fine.” According to enthusiast websites, the Champ line of aircraft was built between 1946 and 1950. They remain popular with private pilots. Earlier reports said the plane was a different make and model but a similar configuration. Fire and rescue crews responded to the crash site, which is reportedly just west of Interstate 5. The plane did catch fire following the impact but firefighters said it was small and went out on its own before they arrived. Bahrman said he was practicing takeoffs and landings, known as touch-and-goes, when the plane crashed at about 12:30 p.m. The cause of the crash is unknown but the FAA is investigating. According to the flight school Bahrman attended in California, his first solo flight was in February of 2008. Hours after the crash, there was still the smell of spilled fuel, and marks from the plane's propeller were evident on the walls. Just before 4 p.m., a crane began lifting the plane out of the house and a few minutes later it was resting on the street outside the home. People who live in the area said they are happy to see no one was injured, but they’re furious that this happened. They said there is no reason for airplanes to be flying this close to their homes even though they are near the airport. The FAA is investigating the crash. Related resources:
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February 9, 2012
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