Plane plows through fence

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 11, 2005

SNOHOMISH – A 35-year-old woman suffered minor injuries when a small plane she was piloting overshot the runway at Harvey Field in Snohomish on Sunday.

The accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. as the woman was attempting to land the plane after dropping some skydivers, police and airport authorities said. No one else was on the plane.

The Cessna 206 missed most or all of the airport’s main runway, said Rich Niebusch, spokesman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The plane broke through a chain-link fence at the south end of the airport, taking the fence with it, then skidded across Airport Way and went over a six-foot embankment.

Michael V. Martina / The Herald Police talk at the scene of a small plane crash along Airport Way next to Harvey Field in Snohomish. The plane crashed through a chain-link fence and skidded into an embankment on the opposite side of the road.

No cars were hit, police said. The plane came to rest on the embankment, nose down and tail in the air, its structure intact.

The woman, a Whidbey Island resident, was taken to Providence Everett Medical Center. Official word on her condition was not available Sunday, but Elaine Harvey, her employer, said she was OK.

The plane belongs to Skydive Snohomish, which operates at Harvey Field.

The accident is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, she said.

The woman “has been flying with us for more than a year. She’s an experienced skydiving pilot,” Harvey said.

A thick fog formed on the ground Sunday afternoon, but the runway was visible from above, she said. Two other planes had landed successfully within 10 minutes of the accident, Harvey said.

“She is a very close friend; she’s not just an employee,” she said of the pilot. “We care about her very much, and we’re grateful the situation isn’t worse.”

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.