Sheriff: Man crashes plane in Preble County, knocks on door of nearby home

PREBLE COUNTY — Deputies and Ohio State Highway Patrol are on scene of a reported plane crash in Preble County Tuesday evening.

Around 9 p.m. the Preble County Sheriff’s Office got a call from a resident in the 2000 block of Oxford Gettysburg Road saying someone had knocked on their door and claimed they had just crashed their plane in a nearby field, according to Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson.

Deputies along with Ohio State Highway Patrol as well as Eaton fire and medics responded to the scene and found a plane on its top.

The pilot told deputies that he had been flying in the Dayton area and experienced engine problems and attempted to find a place to land, Simpson said.

After being unable to find a safe place to land he attempted to land the plane in a field, which had very soft ground.

The soft ground likely caused the plane to quickly come to a stop and flip over, Simpson said.

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The pilot, identified as a man from Dayton, was taken to Reid Hospital in Richmond with non-life-threatening injuries.

Simpson said the next steps are for the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane was described as an “experimental plane” and appears to have been built by a private individual and sold to the current pilot, Simpson said.

The pilot was the only passenger on the plane.

We will continue following this story and update as new information becomes available.

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