Pilot in weekend crash in serious condition

A single-engine, experimental aircraft piloted by Paul Norman Baker, 78, of Mooresville crashed into woods near a grass airstrip in Enochville in Rowan County Saturday afternoon. Photo by Mark Wineka, Salisbury Post

By Shelley Smith

ssmith@salisburypost.com

Paul Baker, the pilot who crashed his plane Saturday afternoon in Enochville shortly after taking off is still in serious condition following injuries from the crash.

Baker was listed in serious condition Saturday after being flown to Charlotte’s Carolinas Medical Center.

According to Rowan County Emergency Services Director Frank Thomason, FAA officials were back this morning with Baker’s family to remove the plane. Thomason said the plane was disassembled before it was moved.

Because the plane crashed in a densely-wooded area, a Bobcat tractor was brought in to cut a path for the removal. The plane was taken to a repair shop in Lexington.

Baker hung upside down in his single-engine, light-sport plane for close to two-and-a-half hours before he was able to reach his cell phone and call for help.

FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen said Monday that the accident was still under investigation.

“The National Transportation Safety Board will determine the actual cause of the accident, which could take up to a year,” Bergen said.

Thomason said that about seven agencies from Rowan County were on scene Saturday.

The last time a plane crashed in Rowan County was July 3, after an ultra-light plane crashed into Kannapolis Lake. No one was injured in the July 3 crash.

The last crash prior to July 3 was in September 2009 when a small plane crashed in a field adjacent to the Lazy 5 Ranch off of Mooresville Road.

“We don’t have them very often,” Thomason said.