Ultralight crash near Bemidji leaves pilot dead

Photo: Artur ?ebrowski, Photos.com

Aug 29, 2012 at 6:30 am

BEMIDJI, MN (AP) - Authorities are investigating the crash of an ulltralight  plane near Bemidji that killed one man and left another hospitalized.
 
The plane crashed around 7:15 p.m. Monday at a grass landing strip west of  Bemidji. The pilot, 49-year-old Jay Russell Davis, of Bemidji, died at the scene. His passenger, 56-year-old Paul Jerome Wannarka, of Bemidji, was airlifted to a Fargo, N.D., hospital.
 
In a news release Tuesday, Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp says witnesses  reported the plane was banking through a turn _ apparently preparing to land _ when the wing struck the ground causing the plane to crash.
 
Hodapp says witnesses told investigators that Davis was an experienced ultralight pilot.
 
The Pioneer newspaper reports (http://bit.ly/NUZPmK) Davis took up passengers for at least three uneventful flights Monday night before the crash.

Posted By JW Cox

Staff Writer

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