Plane crashes into car in South Hill parking lot but pilot walks away
A pilot survived the crash of his newly purchased small plane in a South Hill parking lot Thursday afternoon.
The plane lost power after it took off from Thun Field, said Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer. It crashed in the Sunrise Village shopping center at Meridian and 160th Street East.
The plane flipped upside down and struck an unoccupied vehicle, Troyer said.
“The pilot is up, walking around with minor injuries,” Troyer said. “He’s shook up but going to be OK.”
The 53-year-old pilot was the only person in the single-engine plane. He was flying to his home airport in Auburn, Troyer said.
Doug Shuffelen and his wife were exiting their vehicle in the parking lot when they saw the plane flying low and in their direction. Its wing were wobbling.
“Me and somebody else were yelling for people to move,” he said.
After the crash, Shuffelen and others ran to the scene and helped the pilot get out of the plane.
“We laid him on the ground until paramedics arrived,” Shuffelen said.
Sunrise Village is approximately 1,500 feet from the northern end of Thun Field’s runway.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 4:51 PM.
