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OGDEN -- A Utah man is in stable condition after crashing a single-engine plane he was piloting Thursday morning.
Jack Lowry, 49, took off from the Ogden-Hinckley airport just after 9 a.m. and crashed in a field near 1700 West and 3300 South moments later.
The 1975 Maule M-5-210C had just taken off from the airport when the pilot reported a power loss to the control tower.
"The pilot indicated he lost power of his plane and he was going to set it down in a field," said Weber County sheriff's Lt. Lonnie Eskelson. "At that point, the Ogden tower notified us, and EMS got us en route."
Airport manager Ed Rich said, "He was on the takeoff. The engine had a sudden engine stop."
When crews arrived on the scene, the pilot from Layton was still inside the plane. Emergency crews extricated him from the plane.
He was conscious and talking, but in serious condition. He was flown to McKay-Dee Hospital.
"He's very lucky," Rich said. "Looking at the plane, he's very lucky."
The plane slammed into a dirt embankment, shearing the wings off and crumpling the body. Rich said if the plane had been just a few feet higher, it would have landed differently. He said, "He was lucky but a little unlucky. If he'd been 3 or 4 feet higher, he would have just rolled out on a nice landing, but he hit the bank there."
Rich says something else probably saved his life. "He's just very lucky," he said. "He'd just installed some shoulder harnesses a couple of days ago; that probably paid in his survival."
The pilot was shuttling the plane to Alaska for the plane's owner when it crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to investigate the cause of the crash.
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Story compiled with contributions from Ben Winslow and Courtney Orton.
