FRYEBURG — A pilot was uninjured, but the ultralight aircraft he was flying was damaged when it crashed in a wooded area off Porter Road around 6 p.m. Saturday.
Police identified the pilot as a 56-year-old Media, Pa. man. He was flying his Aerolite 103 single-seat ultralight aircraft out of Leavitt Airport in Albany, N.H., when the plane’s engine failed, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at the Eastern Slopes Airport in Fryeburg, according to a statement from Fryeburg Police Chief Joshua Potvin.
The pilot deployed the aircraft’s emergency parachute system when he realized he did not have enough altitude to make the runway. The parachute slowed the descent and the pilot and his aircraft landed in trees just west of the Eastern Slopes runway.
“The pilot was extremely fortunate to escape this incident without injury. He has been flying planes since 2003 and this must have been a terrifying crash landing, even for an experienced pilot. Fryeburg Police investigators are working with Federal Aviation Administration officials,” the statement said.
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