EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated several times, to add information and, later, to correct transcription errors by on-scene reporter Peg McNichol.
PARK TWP. (WHTC AM/FM) — A homebuilt plane crashed at Park Township Airport, 1269 Ottawa Beach Rd. just before 10 a.m. Saturday, July 28, 2018. Park Township Fire and Ottawa County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the crash, along with airport officials.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Buter, a road patrol shift supervisor, had been at the U.S. Coast Guard Festival but came to the airport.
“We learned that on his approach, he was at, I believe at 70 knots and on his initial touchdown, he bounced — terminology for not having good, solid contact when he was hitting the runway to slow down and take off again,” Buter said.
That bounce threw the plane off just enough that his second landing attempt was unsuccessful, Buter said, and the pilot steered through the field, shutting down his engine to avoid propeller damage. The plane stopped near a stand of trees at the edge of the airfield.
The pilot was uninjured, and declined comment when asked.
The aircraft is a 2006 single-engine, fixed-wing homebuilt Van’s Aircraft RV-9A, according to FAA records. The plane is registered to John Boer of Holland, according to FAA records.
Park Township Trustee Skip Keeter, an airport board member, said the last crash at the Park Twp. airport was about eight years ago
“I’m sure our airport committee will meet early next week to review what happened,” Keeter said.
