Published: January 06, 2009 12:27 pm      

NEW – Pilot flagged down help after crashing in Indiana

INDIANA — An airplane carrying sightseers and trying to land in foggy conditions crashed near a western Pennsylvania airport, but the pilot was able to get help for his passengers by flagging down a passing fire truck, officials said.

Foggy conditions limited visibility to a quarter mile and the ceiling was 200 feet when the single-engine Piper Cherokee crashed into a hillside just north of Jimmy Stewart Airport after 6 p.m. Sunday, said Todd Heming, manager of the airport near the borough where the famous actor was born.

The pilot, Mark Goldinger, of Dayton, missed the approach and radioed to say he was going to try to land somewhere else. When radar couldn’t locate the plane, airport officials presumed it crashed and called emergency crews to search for the wreckage, Heming said.

Soon after, Goldinger staggered to a road, where he flagged down a fire truck. It took crews about 15 minutes to reach the wreckage on four-wheel-drive vehicles.

“That saved valuable time in getting to the other two patients,” Indiana Fire Chief John Colananni said. “God only knows how long it could have took us to locate the plane.”

Goldinger was in fair condition at Conemaugh Medical Center in Johnstown, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said one of the others on board was in critical condition. The condition of the other passenger wasn’t known.

The FAA turned over the investigation to the National Transportation Safety Board, since the plane was badly damaged and because someone was critically injured. NTSB officials did not immediately return a message left Monday.

FAA records show Goldinger is the plane’s registered owner. The FAA does not release the names of passengers and pilots involved in crashes, but Peters said they were “on a sightseeing flight to and from Jimmy Stewart field.”

The plane had left the airport about 4 p.m., Heming said.