Winds flip plane landing at Sisters Eagle Airport
(Update: More about plane’s occupants; had left Sisters earlier)
Two men sustained minor injuries Wednesday morning when their 73-year-old single-engine plane flipped onto its roof while landing in winds gusting more than 40 mph at Sisters Eagle Airport, Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said.
A Black Butte Police Department sergeant was driving by the Sisters Eagle Airport around 10:45 a.m. when he saw a plane flip over while trying to land and called for assistance, sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Dizney said.
Deputies arrived to find the red and white Piper PA-12 single-engine plane on its top, partly on the paved runway, Dizney said.
Dizney said the plane “had been attempting to land and due to the gusty winds we’re experiencing had some complications and flipped over onto its roof.”
Pilot Brian Lansburgh, 73, of Sisters, and his passenger, John Watson, 88, of Bend, were able to climb out of the overturned plane with minor, non-life-threatening injuries that didn’t require transport from the scene, the sergeant said.
Deputies determined Lansburgh was trying to land in gusty winds, using the dirt beside the runway to help in the landing, Dizney said.
“Wind appears to be the only factor causing this crash at this time,” Dizney said in a news release.
He later told NewsChannel 21 that both men are pilots and they had taken off earlier from the Sisters airport.
The National Weather Service observation site in Sisters was recording west-southwest winds of 30 mph, gusting to 41 mph around the time the plane landed.
Federal Aviation Administration records indicate the plane was built in 1946 and is owned by Tailwheel Productions LLC of Sisters.
The runway was closed for about 90 minutes during the crash investigation and for airport staff to take the plane to a storage location. The plane “sustained moderate damage but remained in one piece,” Dizney said in a news release.
Dizney said the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were contacted by phone for assistance and will be completing their investigation in the coming days.
Lansburgh is a flight instructor who specializes in “tailwheel” instruction, the type of plane that has a “tailwheel” at the rear to support the tail of the plane. He started the Tailwheeler’s Journal and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1976 for the short film “Dawn Flight,” according to the Tailwheeler’s Journal website.
Lansburgh previously was the manager and pilot of Sunriver Soaring and managed the Sunriver Airport for a time. Previously, he was a pilot for L3 Wescam, flying aerial photography planes across the U.S. and Canada, and also was a comedy stunt pilot for air shows.
