Man Suffers Minor Injuries In Plane Incident

Sunday, November 12th 2006, 9:06 pm

By: News On 6

POCASSET, Okla. (AP) A single-engine aircraft crash landed in a Grady County field Sunday, heavily damaging the plane but only slightly injuring the pilot, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Joe Green of Chickasha sustained ``some head injuries'' in the crash landing but managed to walk to an ambulance for treatment, said Brian Sturgill, a pilot for the Highway Patrol. The patrol said the crash landing caused ``significant damage'' to Green's plane.

Sturgill and another trooper were checking traffic speeds on the H.E. Bailey Turnpike from the air about 3 p.m. when they received a radio transmission from Green, the patrol said. Green said there was smoke in the cockpit of his A-36 Bonanza plane.

Sturgill said Green's plane was only 300 feet up in the air when he made the radio call, meaning his plane could crash within 30 seconds.

``I told him (Green) to find a field to land in,'' Sturgill said. Green's plane crash-landed in a wheat field about one mile west of Pocasset and Sturgill landed his plane in a nearby pasture.

The troopers found Green lying on a wing of his damaged plane.

``It was a rough landing, but he (Green) did a superb job of getting his plane to the ground, given the circumstances,'' Sturgill said.