NTSB Identification: ERA16LA116
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, February 27, 2016 in Gettysburg, PA
Aircraft: CESSNA 150L, registration: N976HB
Injuries: 1 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On February 27, 2016, about 1215 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150L, N976HB, owned and operated by a private individual, was substantially damaged during a forced landing into trees, following a partial loss of engine power during initial climb after takeoff from Gettysburg Regional Airport (W05), Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The private pilot was not injured. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the planned flight to Clearview Airpark (2W2), Westminster, Maryland.
The pilot stated that he departed runway 24 with 7 gallons of fuel. During initial climb, about 750 feet above ground level, the engine rpm decreased to 1,700. The pilot applied carburetor heat, but the engine rpm remained at 1,700 and he was unable to maintain altitude. He then turned back toward the airport and realized that the airplane was not going to reach the runway. The pilot subsequently attempted to land in a field prior to the runway, but the airplane impacted, and came to rest, in trees just prior to the field.
The recorded weather at an airport located about 15 mile east of the accident site, at 1153, included wind variable at 6 knots, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 4,600 feet, and temperature 3 degrees C.
The wreckage was retained for further examination.
The pilot of a crashed plane is hoisted to safety after his plane crashed into trees and was suspended in the air at Gettysburg Regional Airport on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Crews responded to the scene of a plane crash near Gettysburg Regional Airport Saturday afternoon.
The pilot, an 87-year-old local man, was not injured, said Gettysburg Fire Department Chief Hurshel Shank.
The man -- whose name has not yet been released -- took off from the runway but had engine failure, Cumberland Township Police Chief Don Boehs said. He attempted to make a U-turn when he crashed into trees near the runway, he said.
The plane landed nose down about 50 feet off the ground, Shank said. The man called police after the crash with a cell phone he was carrying, Boehs said.
The pilot was attempting to fly from Gettysburg to Clearview Airpark in Westminster, Maryland to get more fuel for the plane, Boehs said.
The single-engine plane faced nose-down for about four hours while rescue officials figured out how to free the pilot, Shank said. The plane was in a stable setting and the pilot was alert, so there was no rush to get him out, he said.
"He was in very good spirits the whole time there," he said. "He was conscious, alert and oriented the whole incident, which lasted almost four hours. I think by the end, he was a little anxious to get out, as we all were to get him out of the situation he was in."
Police, who arrived on scene around 12:30 p.m., originally thought they would use a Maryland State Police helicopter to fly above the plane and send a man down with a cable to get the pilot out, Shank said. However, the wind from the helicopter could have made the plane too unstable, so they decided otherwise, he said.
Frederick County Advanced Technical Rescue, assisted by crews in York and Adams counties, used ladders to climb from the ground to the plane, Shank said. After cutting branches from around the plane down, rescue workers put the man in a sling and lowered him to the ground, he said.
Emergency medical services were evaluating the man and planned to transfer him to Gettysburg Hospital as a precautionary measure, Boehs said. He suffered a hand injury, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and local Civil Air Patrol units will investigate the scene and determine how to get the plane down, Shank said.
Officials from Gettysburg Regional Airport were not immediately available to comment.
In what's turned out to be a busy week in Adams County, with fatal fires in Littlestown and Cumberland Township, spirits from officers are still good, Boehs said.
"The officers are doing well," he said. "We have a very good working relationship with the fire companies and ambulance rescue crews around the area."
Original article can be found here: http://www.eveningsun.com
EMS workers talk to the rescued pilot of a crashed plane after his plane crashed into trees and was suspended in the air at Gettysburg Regional Airport on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The pilot was rescued safely after several hours of rescue operations.
Gettysburg Fire Chief Hurshel Shank gives an update to members of the media after the safe rescue of a pilot from his crashed plane after the plane crashed into trees and was suspended 50 feet in the air.
A Maryland State Police helicopter takes off in front of a crashed plane after the plane crashed into trees and was suspended in the air at Gettysburg Regional Airport on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The helicopter was planned to be used to hoist the trapped pilot out of the plane, but the plan was scrapped after it was determined that high winds from the helicopter's rotor wash could knock the plane out of the trees. 
Spring Grove firefighters put away ladders after a rescue of a pilot trapped inside his plane after his plane crashed into trees and was suspended 50 feet in the air at Gettysburg Regional Airport on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
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