The pilot of a small aircraft escaped serious injury early Wednesday after making a crash landing near the Colby airport.
The Kansas Highway Patrol says the crash was reported around 2:30 a.m. in a field about a half-mile east of Colby Municipal Airport. A Beech fixed-wing multi-engine airplane was taking off from the airport when the front wheel dolly did not detach from the front wheel.
When the pilot got into the air, he noticed it was still attached and called the fire department. While firefighters were en route, the right enginge failed and the pilot had to conduct what the patrol called “a major crash landing.”
The pilot, 40-year-old Kelly Gabel, of Colby, was taken to Citizens Medical Center in Colby for minor injuries.
No one else was aboard the plane at the time of the crash.
