Alaskan pilot survives ag plane crash on butte

A crop-duster crashed into the east end of Kamiak Butte Friday, sending pilot Morgan Stanton to Pullman Regional Hospital with two broken clavicles and a dislocated elbow.

Stanton, 31, is a bush pilot from Fairbanks, Alaska, and was working for Dale’s Flying Service of Palouse for the spring season.

State Patrol troopers look at the scene of this crop duster crash on Kamiak Butte.

The plane, a Cessna Ag Truck, crashed through a line of trees at the top of the ridge and hit the ground upside down, spilling dry fertilizer. Stanton was able to pull himself from the wreckage and walk a quarter mile down a steep grade to the nearest farm house.

The accident was reported at 12:12 p.m. Friday.

He was taken by a Pullman ambulance to Pullman Regional Hospital. It was later determined he had broken both clavicles and dislocated his elbow. He was treated at the hospital and released.

“It doesn’t look like he hit any tree trunks but he did hit a bunch of branches. It was a pretty violent crash,” said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Brad Hudson. The state patrol responded to the accident scene, along with Whitman County Sheriff’s office, Palouse fire department and the Pullman rural fire department.

The accident was just outside the boundary of Kamiak Butte Park.

The FAA is still investigating the incident. A spokesman from the FAA’s Seattle office could not yet comment on the cause of the accident.

Jamie Presol, co-owner of Dale’s Flying Service and owner of the plane, said the pilot was spraying a field next to the butte and didn’t gain enough altitude to clear the trees. A sudden tailwind also contributed to the accident, she said.

“He has two broken clavicles from a seatbelt that probably saved his life,” Presol said.

Dale’s Flying Service operates two airplanes. Presol said they had insurance for the totaled plane, but did not yet know if they will purchase a new plane this year.