Pilot plans to fix crashed plane and fly again

 

5:36 PM, Apr. 22, 2012 

Written by Wausau Daily Herald

The pilot of the biplane that crashed into Lake Wausau Saturday plans to fix the craft and fly it again.

But it won’t be anytime soon, said Dustin Burt, 17, of Wausau, the son of the pilot, Dr. Glenn Burt. Glenn Burt, 60, of Wausau still was shaken Sunday from the crash in his Sopwith Cub, a plane he built from a kit, and he declined to speak with the Wausau Daily Herald.

“It probably will take a while before he’ll want to fly again,” Dustin Burt said.

Glenn Burt was practicing takeoffs and landings from the Wausau Downtown Airport shortly before noon on Saturday when the fuel in one of the plane’s two tanks ran out. The pilot tried to start the engine from a second tank, but was unsuccessful, Dustin Burt said. Glenn Burt also had to loop around the lake as another plane landed at the airport. It all created a chain of events that led to the wet crash landing, Dustin Burt said.

Glenn Burt was unhurt in the incident, and was picked up by a couple of men from the Shawano area who were fishing from a boat near Glenn Burt’s crash landing site.

Dustin Burt said there is plenty of work to do before the Sopwith Cub could fly again. “We’ll need to clean the engine, and replace electrical equipment,” Dustin Burt said.

Read the full story in print and online in Monday's Wausau Daily Herald.