Homemade Plane Crashes Into Cessna At Nevada County Airport
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) — A Grass Valley pilot survived a fiery crash after his homemade airplane crashed into another plane at the Nevada County Airpark.
The pilot is recovering from second- and third-degree burns and smoke inhalation at UC Davis Medical Center. Rescue crews say he walked out of his plane just in time.
The home-built plane called Zenith burst into flames after crashing into a parked Cessna twin-engine plane. Within seconds, the cockpit turned into a pile of ash on the tarmac of the airpark.
While the plane was totaled, pilot Van Anthony still has his life. Firefighters arrived in minutes to find him suffering from burns.
Tyler Paulin lives nearby and witnessed the pilot making a hard landing and veer 200 feet off the runway before crashing into a parked plane.
"I think he got real lucky," he said. "He could have died."
Paulin says his buddies fly home-built planes all the time at the airport. He says it looked like this one didn't stand a chance after the plane hit the ground.
Firefighters say wind may have played a role in Tuesday's crash, but the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
