A rebuilt vintage airplane lost power near the Erie Airpark this morning and crashed, injuring a man and his grandson.
“The engine failed,” said Paul Hinton, 68, owner of the rebuilt de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk, a single engine, two-seat trainer aircraft manufactured in 1952.
Hinton, who spoke from the emergency room of Exempla Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, didn’t have time to talk. He was piloting the craft and suffered only minor injuries in the crash.
Hinton’s 16-year-old grandson, Robin Hinton, had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The plane fueled up at the airpark and was headed for Greeley when the pilot reported engine trouble minutes after taking off, said Mountain View Fire Protection District spokesman Jesse Hodgson.
The pilot tried to land at the airpark, narrowly missing storage buildings before crashing in an open field about a mile away, Hodgson said.
“The pilot was making a left bank and had a complete loss of power, tried to set down and caught a wing tip. The plane cartwheeled and came to rest on its belly,” said Boulder Sheriff’s Cmdr. Phil West.
The crash sparked a small grass fire when the plane went down at about 10 a.m.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
