LAKE ELMO, Minn. -- The pilot of a single-engine plane suffered life-threatening injuries Friday after crashing into a soybean field north of Lake Elmo Airport after takeoff, according to the Washington County sheriff's office.
Witnesses reported that a small plane left the airport shortly before 4 p.m. and crossed Manning Avenue to the northwest, Sheriff Bill Hutton said. The two-seat plane immediately banked back to the southeast and crossed the avenue again before tipping and crashing south of the Washington County Fairgrounds.
Emergency responders peeled back plane wreckage that landed on top of the pilot and cut his seat belt, Hutton said. The pilot faded in and out of consciousness but responded to questions.
"He was conscious when we got there, and he was able to provide us with his name," Hutton said.
The pilot, a regular at the airport, was alone in the plane, the sheriff said.
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The Washington County Sheriff's department on Saturday identified the man as 39-year-old Mark Allen Kedrowski of Mahtomedi, Minn.
"The plane was pretty well mangled," said Hutton, who called the pilot's injuries "absolutely life-threatening."
Kedrowski was rushed by air ambulance to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. His condition was not known Friday night.
The Washington County sheriff's office and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating. Hutton said initial responders saw no signs of debris or fuel leakage beyond the crash site.
The public airport, which has two runways,
accommodates as many as 57,000 takeoffs and landings per year. About 200 aircraft are based at the facility, which also is home to a Civil Air Patrol squadron. Lake Elmo Airport is in Baytown Township.
