2 escape injury as plane veers off runway

Two people escaped injury Thursday night when a light airplane they were servicing apparently got caught in a tailwind and smashed into a short line of trees at the Naper Aero Club in unincorporated DuPage County near Naperville.

The trees – which had been planted to create a buffer between the club’s airstrip and 83rd Street – did their job, keeping the single-engine, red and white Piper aircraft from sliding onto or across the busy thoroughfare, Naperville Fire Department Battalion Chief Patrick Sleik said at the scene.

Sleik said the mishap occurred at 7:09 p.m. as the plane apparently taxied from north to south on the airstrip. The club lies northeast of 83rd Street and Route 59 in the unincorporated Aero Estates area near far west-central Naperville.

A mechanic had been called to change the plane’s thick oil, Sleik said. The mechanic apparently tried to warm the newly-replaced oil by driving the plane a short distance north on the airstrip, he said.

The plane apparently caught an unexpected tailwind from the north as it turned and taxied south on the strip, Sleik said. It then crashed into the treeline, he said.

Twelve firefighters and other emergency workers, including members of a hazardous materials team, were sent to the scene, Sleik said. The mechanic and an unidentified passenger both refused medical treatment at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital, he said.

Sleik estimated the plane’s value at more than $150,000. It appeared to be a total loss, he said.

Naperville police and DuPage County sheriff’s officers closed 83rd Street to vehicular traffic near the club for 20 minutes during the emergency, Sleik said. Firefighters left the scene about 9 p.m.
Sleik added officials of the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to go to the club this morning to investigate the mishap.