Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

Pilot from small plane crash in Louisville in serious condition

The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --

The pilot of a small plane that crashed in Louisville remains hospitalized in serious condition with burns.

Family friend Todd Werne says pilot William Lebre had just taken off from Bowman Field in Louisville on Wednesday and was headed to Bloomington, Ind., when the plane crashed at about 9:40 a.m. EDT.

Louisville Fire Chief Greg Frederick says the plane lost power. He says the pilot radioed the airport, which then notified emergency officials.

Frederick says a few minutes later, emergency officials received a 911 call directing them to the neighborhood where the plane crashed. He says the plane clipped several trees, flipped over and landed upside down on a fence between two backyards.

The fire chief says no one on the ground was hurt and no houses or power lines were hit. The only person in the plane was the pilot.

Werne told The Courier-Journal that Lebre had surgery for a lacerated side, and would be kept at University of Louisville Hospital for several days.