ELK RAPIDS TOWNSHIP -- UPDATE: The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to be on scene of the Elk Rapids plane crash Tuesday.
The Elk Rapids Fire Department tells 7&4 News that the pilot was attempting an emergency landing around noon Saturday in a field near the Elk Rapids Waste and Water Treatment Plant off of Ames road. The plane crashed into trees, tearing one of the wings from the plane.
We're told 5 people were in the plane and no one was seriously injured in the crash.
The pilot was 65 year-old Samuel Fredrick Pfeiffer Jr. from the Elk Rapids area. Along with Pfeiffer in the plane were his wife, Martha, a friend Shawn Husband and two children ages 8 and 11 from the Williamsburg area.
A preliminary investigation and statements from the pilot, passengers and ground witnesses, indicate that the plane was having mechanical problems at the time of the crash.
Pfeiffer told Deputies that he was piloting the 1966 Cherokee VI Piper, 6 passenger plane, near the northern portion of Torch Lake when he started to notice the engine sputtering and missing.
Pfeiffer then started to return to Traverse City (where he had taken off) when the engine problems started to worsen. Pfeiffer attempted to land the plane in a hay field between Cairn Hwy. and Herman Rd. in Elk Rapids Township.
The plane landed in the field and traveled about 1000 feet to the end of the open field and into some trees, tearing the right-side wing off from the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration is currently leading the investigation.
