Pilot dies in crash of experimental airplane near Wasilla

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Wasilla police say the pilot who died Thursday in a crash near the Wasilla Airport was flying a home-built airplane.

Anchorage television station KTUU reports an officer performing a security check saw the crash at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Clint Johnson of the National Transportation Safety Board describes the airplane as an amateur-built, acrobatic-type airplane.

He says the plane falls under the Federal Aviation Administration classification of “experimental.”

Johnson says witnesses watched the takeoff. The airplane made a steep climb before the left wing dropped and the airplane crashed nose-first.
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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com