A plane made an emergency landing near Loleta on Thursday, touching down and flipping over in a field about three-quarters of a mile from the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge just off Highway 101.
No report from the crash had been added to the National Transportation Safety Board’s aviation accident database as of Thursday afternoon.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene just after 10:30 a.m. after the individual who was in the plane called law enforcement. Humboldt Bay Fire confirmed the pilot was the only person on board and said he survived without any major injuries.
According to the CHP’s dispatch report, the plane was reportedly disabled, which led to the pilot making the emergency landing, the reporting party said. The fixed-wing single engine plane is owned and was flown by 67 year-old Joseph McCoy of Napa, according to Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office report.
The report says that McCoy’s aircraft lost power after it had departed from the Eureka area. McCoy was able to remove himself from the aircraft before calling for emergency services. The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation for the cause of the incident.
The site of the crash is on private property that’s overseen by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and is currently closed to the public.
