A small plane has crashed just east of the runway at the Chatham-Kent Municipal Airport.
Police say the pilot was alone in the plane when it crashed into a corn field around 9:20am today. The 66-year-old Thamesville man was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
An employee at the Ridge Landfill, located near the airport, says he witnessed this morning's crash.
Gerald Coleman was on top a hill at the landfill when the small plane caught his attention at take-off, because it was so loud.
"As it went up I was watching its trajectory," says Coleman. "I heard it (the engine) sputter a couple of times, like engine failure, it did it twice and I told the guy I was working with 'that didn't sound good' and then as I said it, the plane went left and it started getting lower and lower and lower and I lost it in the tree line, and that's when I told him 'that plane is going down.'"
Transport Canada was notified of the crash, but won't be attending.
Emergency crews on scene at a plane crash north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
The cornfield where the plane crashed backs onto a property on Charing Cross Rd. north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Emergency crews on scene at a plane crash north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Emergency crews on scene at a plane crash north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Emergency crews on scene at a plane crash north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Small plane crashes near Chatham airport. October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Emergency crews on scene at a plane crash north of Chatham, October 2, 2015 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)