Fuel a concern following plane crash in Plymouth
By Marcy Jones and Rob Polansky
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PLYMOUTH, Connecticut (WFSB) — Fuel left behind from a small plane crash in Plymouth remained a concern on Wednesday, the day after the incident.
Charles Hutter, 80, of Nevada, walked away with only minor injuries following the Tuesday afternoon crash.
Hutter took off from nearby Waterbury-Oxford Airport and went down around 1 p.m. just a quarter of a mile away from a boy scouts camp.
The amount of fuel involved with the aircraft had environmental officials on high alert.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection confirmed that Hutter noticed a problem right after he took off.
The single engine Cessna 185 aircraft crashed in a wooded area off Route 262.
The pilot was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and crews were able to cut their way into the plane to pull out the nearly 80 gallons of fuel.
DEEP said containing the hazardous material was a top priority, but also very challenging because of logistics.
“You have to go through that and then there’s some old fields that are overgrown, then it’s another hundred feet into a heavy wooded area beyond that, so we’re actually cutting trees and digging a road into where the plane is,” said Ken LeClerc, supervising emergency response coordinator, DEEP.
The local boy scouts confirmed that no campers or programs were affected by the crash. Things at the camp will continue as planned.
DEEP told Channel 3 that it’s planning to remove the plane on Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into the cause of the crash.
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