‘A miracle’: No serious injuries in Bend Airport plane crash
(Update: More info from police, pilot ID; adding new video)
A single-engine plane with four people aboard crashed when a gust of wind hit as it landed at the Bend Municipal Airport on Saturday afternoon, ending up well off the runway and partially atop a mound of gravel. But despite significant damage, police said no serious injuries were reported.
Bend police and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies responded shortly before 2:30 p.m. to the crash of the Cessna 180, reported just off the north end of the runway at the airport along Powell Butte Highway east of Bend.
Bend police Lt. Brian Beekman said pilot John Bentley Jr., 58, of Bend was landing the plane, returning from a flight of about three hours, when the gust of wind hit. Bentley said he tried to gain control of the plane, but Beekman said “it made contact with an embankment and crashed just east of the runway.”
Sgt. Robert Jones said the pilot “tried to power back up (and) tried to power out of it and couldn’t recover, spun around” and came to rest against a pile of gavel and dirt.
A juvenile on the plane was taken by Bend Fire ambulance to St. Charles Bend for evaluation of minor injuries, Jones said.
“This was really a miracle,” Jones said, “because it went quite a ways off the runway. I was watching a plane come in later, and the wind throws them all over the place.”
“A lot of it went well, considering,” the sergeant added.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Gregory Martin confirmed preliminary reports from first responders that there were four people aboard the plane and that the crash caused a minor fuel leak but no major injuries.
One person was still in the plane, which ended up east of the runway, when police arrived. Two others were reported to be at the fixed-base operator office and the fourth was at a hangar.
The airport didn’t halt operations, as another plane landed a short time later during the blustery afternoon.
The plane was significantly damaged in the crash. FAA records show it is owned by Bentley and was built in 1961.
