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No injuries after small plane crash in Sterling

The plane was down near Fontaine Avenue in Sterling. Alisha Joe said she took this photo around 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
Courtesy of Alisha Joe
The plane was down near Fontaine Avenue in Sterling. Alisha Joe said she took this photo around 5:45 p.m. Thursday.

A pilot walked away with no injuries after his small propeller plane crashed into trees near the highway in Sterling last night, according to safety officials.

But the aircraft, an experimental Carbon Cub plane, did sustain substantial damage, and over a thousand households in the area lost power for a few hours last night while Homer Electric Association repaired a line that was hit.

Clint Johnson, regional chief with the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane took off from Dutch Landing Strip, a private airstrip in the Sterling area just down the road from the crash site.

He said the adult male pilot did a forced landing into the trees, near Robinson Loop Road. The pilot was the only person in the plane.

Johnson did not know how high the plane was flying, at the time of the crash.

The plane also hit utility wires, according to a Facebook post from Homer Electric Association Thursday night. Shortly after Troopers were called to the scene, HEA deenergized a circuit in Sterling, causing an outage to about 1,300 members there. Power was restored to all members by 8:30 p.m.

Troopers and an investigator with the safety board spoke with the pilot on scene Thursday night, Johnson said. But he said the NTSB won’t have more information about why the crash happened until they talk with the pilot, at a later date.

The plane, a Cub Crafters Carbon Cub EX3, looks like a Super Cub but comes in a kit and is meant to be assembled at home. Federal Aviation Administration records show that the aircraft was issued a certificate in August 2018.

Sabine Poux is a producer and reporter for the Brave Little State podcast of Vermont Public. She was formerly news director and evening news host at KDLL in Kenai.

Originally from New York, Sabine has lived and reported in Argentina and Vermont and Kenai.