The pilot of a small experimental plane was able to stand and talk to emergency crews Sunday after crashing near the lakefront on Chicago’s Southeast Side, police said.
The pilot, William Yamokoski, of St. Joseph, Mich., who also owns the plane, was taken in fair condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Joe Roccasalva said.
Calls started coming in about 1:35 p.m. about the crash of the single-engine plane near 9500 S. Crilly Drive, by a Chicago Police Department heliport, Officer John Mirabelli said.
The pilot was standing outside the plane when emergency crews got there, Roccasalva said.
Yamokoski, 63, suffered head injuries, Roccasalva said. No one else was in the aircraft, which was in one piece but upside down in a marsh, he said.
The Glastar fixed-wing single-engine plane, an experimental aircraft, sustained damage though the severity wasn’t known yet, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said.
The pilot suffered “minor injuries,” said Herwig, citing preliminary information.
The FAA is investigating and will notify the National Transportation Safety Board, which has the option to look into the wreck. Herwig did not know why the crash occurred.
The pilot had taken off from Oshkosh, Wis., and was headed to Benton Harbor, Mich., Roccasalva said.
Tribune reporter Rosemary R. Sobol contributed.
