PILOT ESCAPES INJURY IN CRASH

TAMMS, Ill. -- The pilot of a Cessna 182K single-engine plane escaped injury Wednesday night when he crash-landed his plane on McDaniel School Road, about a mile north of the Grape Vine Trail Road.

The plane, en route from Lexington, Ky. to Cape Girardeau, apparently "ran out of fuel," according to the Illinois State Police.

The plane lost part of one wing and destroyed a power pole in the crash, but pilot Dean Welch was able to walk away afterward. He was found by nearby residents Rick and Joan Vick, who drove him to Cape Girardeau.

Federal Aviation Administration representative George Ballard was on the scene Thursday. He will report his findings to the FAA office at Springfield, Ill.

Welch left Lexington Wednesday to deliver some Toyota auto parts to Cape Girardeau. The plane ran out of fuel and crashed about 8:30 p.m. en route to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The plane is owned by Kentucky Aeromotive of Mt. Sterling, Ky. A company spokesman said Welch was headed back to Mt. Sterling Thursday.

A brief power outage was reported in the immediate area of the crash. A spokesman for Southern Illinois Electric Coop of Dongola said about 50 families were without power for up to an hour.

There were no witnesses to the crash, but the Vicks heard the plane go down near their home.

"When I first heard a scraping noise, I didn't realize what was happening," said Mrs. Vick. "It sounded like trees scraping metal. When I opened the door to look out, I heard the actual crash."

At that point, the Vicks were not aware that a plane was involved.

"We could see lights flashing and realized something had happened," she said.

The crash was about one-eighth mile from their house.

"When we arrived at the site, the pilot was crawling out of the plane, said Mrs. Vick. "He signaled that he wasn't injured."

The pilot reported the crash from the Vicks' home.

After notifying Southern Illinois Coop that a power pole and lines were down, the Vicks drove the pilot to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.