The pilot of a small airplane was hospitalized with multiple injuries Friday after his aircraft crashed into a heavily wooded area in Elizabeth Township, witnesses and emergency management officials said.
The pilot’s identity was not immediately released, and his destination was unclear, but the plane came down less than a mile from the Rostraver Airport in Belle Vernon.
Logan Persichetti and his father, Robert, were attending a wedding rehearsal about 6:30 p.m. when they noticed a small, yellow plane flying low in the area. They said it suddenly arced upward before it abruptly changed course and went straight down into the woods.
They heard a thud and hiked to the crash scene, where they found the man trapped in the airplane. They said they kept him talking until medics arrived.
An Elizabeth Township fire department official said the man was freed from the wreckage, transported out of the woods in an off-road vehicle, then taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Update: units have located the downed aircraft. Rescue operations are in progress. https://t.co/iCjYaTPB78
— Elizabeth Township Fire Department (PA) (@elizabethtwpfd) May 27, 2022
First Published: May 27, 2022, 11:37 p.m.
Updated: May 28, 2022, 12:13 a.m.
