Reportedly Just Purchased Vintage Plane

A pilot flying his newly-acquired vintage Cessna home to Texas was lost Friday, when the aircraft crashed near Grand Meadow, MN.

According to The Houston Chronicle, pilot Phillip Ray Edgington, 54, had just purchased the 1948 C-140 from an individual in New Richmond, WI, and was returning to Sanger, TX with a planned fuel stop in Oskaloosa, IA.

Early reports indicated the plane (file photo of type shown below) crashed just after midnight Saturday, but officials later revised the accident timeframe. They now say the aircraft crashed at 1310 CST Friday, based on information from Rochester Approach Control. The Civil Air Patrol mounted a search Friday night, after Edgington failed to report in to family members.

Larry Churchill was taking care of horses on his parent’s farm when he and his son Brian found the wreckage around 0900 Saturday morning.

"There was debris all over the field," Larry Churchill told the paper. They noticed what they believed to be a large pile of brush through the fog, went to check it out and found the plane’s cockpit partially covering the pilot’s body. He then called authorities from a cell phone.

Churchill noted parts of the plane were scattered at the site, along with maps and suitcases, and that the aircraft appeared to have slid 150 feet.

Green Meadow is about 25 miles southwest of Rochester. The official cause of the crash is still under investigation.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 3537V        Make/Model: C140      Description:
  Date: 02/08/2008     Time: 1830

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: GRAND MEADOW   State: MN   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE ONE PERSON ON BOARD WAS
  FATALLY INJURED, NEAR GRAND MEADOW, MN

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   1
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: MINNEAPOLIS, MN  (GL15)               Entry date: 02/11/2008

FMI: www.faa.gov