Airplane pilot in serious condition after crash

By Shelley Smith

ssmith@salisburypost.com

The pilot who crashed his plane Saturday afternoon in Enochville shortly after taking off, remained hospitalized in serious condition Monday afternoon.

Paul Baker, 78, of Mooresville, was flown to Charlotte’s Carolinas Medical Center for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash.

Federal Aviation Administration officials returned to the crash site Monday morning with Baker’s family to remove the plane, Rowan County Emergency Services Director Frank Thomason said.

Because the plane crashed in a densely wooded area, authorities brought in a Bobcat tractor to cut a path for the removal. The plane was disassembled and 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 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 the 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 that 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.