A Customs and Border Protection plane crash-landed near the Pittsfield Municipal Airport Wednesday night after its engine failed, injuring its two passengers, the agency said.
Just before midnight, the two-person crew aboard the Cessna single engine C-206 plane was passing over Pittsfield when the pilot suspected the engine had failed, and while attempting to emergency land at the nearby municipal airport, crashed about 50 yards from the Sebasticook River near the Pittsfield town line in Burnham, according to an agency spokeswoman and the Maine State Police.
After crashing near the wooded bank of the river, the unidentified male pilot and his male passenger called 911, drawing multiple of state and local agencies to rescue them, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police. First responders sent in rescue ATVs because the crash site was not accessible by car, Newscenter Maine reported.
Both were transported to the hospital in Pittsfield and treated for injuries. One remained hospitalized Thursday morning with non-life-threatening injuries, McCausland said.
CBP spokeswoman Stephanie Malin did not provide more detail about the Wednesday flight beyond saying the crew was “conducting border security operations.”
Maine state police troopers are providing security around the crash site while local law enforcement, CBP, and the Federal Aviation Administration investigate the cause of the crash. The FAA is overseeing the investigation.
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