Small aircraft crashes at Palouse Airport

PALOUSE - A small airplane overturned after touching down at 2:05 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8, at a private airstrip two miles east of town.

Two people - a flight instructor and presumed student pilot - were aboard the Cessna 170 at the time of the crash at Schoepflin Airport, 801 Ringo Road, the Whitman County Sheriff's Office reported.

At press time, The Gazette was still awaiting the release of the names of the flight instructor and student pilot.

A spokesman at the airport said the plane was at the field "for instructional purposes," but was unable to offer any details on those aboard the plane when it flipped over.

The aircraft, a 1955 fixed-wing single engine plane, is registered to William Cannan of Petaluma, Calif., FAA records show.

A preliminary report from Whitman County Undersheriff Chris Chapman said deputies determined a flight instructor and student were practicing landings just after 2 p.m. in the Cessna 170 aircraft when the plane bounced on landing, went into an adjacent field and flipped onto its top.

The two occupants received minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital in a private vehicle, the report said.

The FAA was contacted and is investigating the incident, the report said. The FAA investigator was unable to be reached for comment by press time.

Schoepflin Airport has a paved, 2,200 foot runway with non-standard edge lighting, according to FAA data available online. Twenty-one aircraft are based there, but not the crashed Cessna 170.