PENTLAND TOWNSHIP, MI-- State Police say a Michigan Department of Natural Resources plane crashed and burned at Luce County Airport, injuring the pilot.
The crash happened Saturday afternoon at the airfield in Pentland Township. Sixty-one-year-old pilot Dean Minett of Newberry was taken to Helen Newberry Joy Hospital with burns to his legs and arms.
Troopers from the State Police post in Sault Ste. Marie say they arrived to find the plane on the runway and fully engulfed in flames. Minett says he tried to return and land but was distracted by smoke filling up the cockpit and crashed.
The plane was being flown for aerial fire assistance and is a total loss.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
