Friday, April 19, 2024
This Cessna P210 single-engine airplane had to make an unexpected landing in a pasture shortly after taking off from Bourland Field in Cresson Tuesday morning.
A small single-engine airplane with four people on board taking off Tuesday morning from Bourland Field in Cresson lost altitude and clipped a tree before the pilot managed to bring the Cessna P210 down with no major injuries sustained. The plane landed in a nearby pasture, Cresson Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Becker told the HCN.
Cresson VFD responded to the crash, called in at 8:40 a.m., and all four occupants were out of the damaged plane when they arrived. Becker said that the four people who had been in the plane initially were able to walk and indicated that they did not need medical attention. Later, two of the four changed their minds and were transported by ambulance to a Fort Worth hospital, he said.
The spot where the plane came to rest was in a small pasture that is part of a horse ranch. Two employees of that ranch were not far away, and quickly rushed over to see if the occupants needed help, Becker said.
One of the occupants is a Cresson resident, and works at the airport, Becker said. He was unsure where the other three were from.
Most of Cresson is in Hood County, but Bourland Field and the pasture where the plane came to rest are in Parker County, about four miles north of the railroad tracks that run through Cresson.
Becker said that he had no information on the official cause of the incident. The plane took off on Bourland’s 4,000-foot-plus runway, headed south, before making contact with a tree approximately a half mile east of the field, he said.
Becker stated, “People observed the plane turn left, to the east, and saw it drop. The plane clipped a tree with its left wing. That part is still up in the tree.”
Becker speculated that the plane’s wingtip making contact with the tree on the way down may have “helped” reduce the plane’s speed during the descent. The chief added, “It was fortunate that it turned out the way it did.”
The five-seat plane’s landing gear “was extended but broke off or was damaged on impact,” Becker added later in a text message.
The incident is being investigated by the FAA, Becker noted. Miguel Jimenez, an FAA aviation safety inspector based in the FAA office in Irving, traveled to Cresson to investigate the incident but said he could not provide any information — but an official news release could be issued later.
