95-year-old pilot crashes small plane in Toledo

TOLEDO, Ore. -- A well-known man in aviation circles on the Oregon coast crashed his plane Monday morning at the Toledo Airport.

Toledo's Jack Hagerty, 95, crashed his Cessna 172 just before 10 a.m. Monday. Hagerty was on a flight from Newport to Toledo when the plane suffered a mechanical failure between his left aileron and his left pedal.

Witnesses on the ground said Hagerty came in too high and too fast, but still managed to set the plane down on the runway at the airport. But because of the mechanical failure, the plane's steering capabilities were limited and the plane landed and then took a hard right turn off the runway, across a small tarmac and into Hagerty's own hangar.

The plane clipped a door support on the hangar and then ploughed into a ditch and an embankment which broke the plane in two.  Hagerty suffered injuries but none thought to be life-threatening. He was removed from the plane and taken by ambulance to Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport.

Staff from the National Transportation Safety Board was on scene assessing the situation and trying to confirm the cause of the crash. 

Hagerty is a celebrated figure in the Newport area, having been a life-long pilot. On his 90th birthday in 2006, Hagerty flew an airplane under the Yaquina Bay Bridge simply because he'd always wanted to, even though it was illegal because it's 135 feet from the traffic lanes down to the water. Hagerty's cohorts said that when he landed after flying under the bridge in 2006, FAA officials revoked his pilot license. He got back his license within a year.