An airplane traveling from Chatham Municipal Airport on Aug. 10 crashed after landing at a Rhode Island airport, entrapping and injuring the Virginia pilot. No one else was in the plane.

The injured pilot had just bought the plane on Aug. 10 in Chatham, and left the Chatham airport in the plane after the sale, according to Chatham Airport Commission Chair Huntley Harrison. The plane was known generally to be a “high performance” aerobatic plane, Harrison said.

A investigation is underway into what happened when the blue single-engine Yakovlev Yak-55M crashed after landing at about 4:30 p.m. the same day at Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane flipped over after landing, according to the FAA.

“The crash wasn’t fatal so we are thankful for that,” said North Kingstown Police Captain John MacCoy.

The most recent owner of the plane lives in Brewster, according to FAA records.

FAA: Only the pilot was on board

Police responded to the airplane crash at about 4:45 p.m., according to MacCoy. Pilot John Kevin Pace, 38, of Bassett, Virginia, was piloting the airplane, according to a North Kingstown police report. The aircraft experienced a rough running engine, according to an FAA accident and incident notification notice.

The airplane experienced an engine issue during climb out and returned to Quonset State Airport, according to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board on Aug. 12.

Pace, who is listed by the FAA as an airman, was the only person on board at the time of the crash, according to the FAA.

Police: pilot was trapped in airplane after crash

Police arrived at the crash to find a single pilot monoplane lying on its roof facing southwest, according to the Aug. 12 report by North Kingstown, Rhode Island Patrol Officer Liam Doyle.

“The pilot of the aircraft was entrapped,” Doyle said in the report.

An aircraft rescue and firefighting unit and witnesses attempted to get the pilot out of the airplane, according to the report. After the arrival of more help, Pace was removed from the airplane.

Pace had lacerations several places on his body but was conscious and alert, Doyle said in the report. There was blood loss from Pace’s injuries, and he was transported in stable condition by North Kingstown Fire Department rescuers to Rhode Island Hospital, according to the report.

Witness Kelly Shea told police she saw the crash from another aircraft she was taxiing on the ground, according to the police report. Shea didn’t observe any suspicious activity pertaining to the crash and remained on scene to be interviewed by an aeronautics inspector, the report stated.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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