Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
A flying instructor from San Antonio and his student escaped serious injury Tuesday night when their Cessna 210 lost power in Gillespie County and crashed on the golf course at Lady Bird Johnson Park, Department of Public Safety Trooper James Scoggins said Wednesday.
He said Ronald E. Herbert, 43, was practicing take-offs and landings with student Mihai Turc, 43, of Oregon at the Gillespie County Airport when the plane lost power at an altitude of about 800 feet at 7:45 p.m.
They attempted to glide back to the airstrip located off Texas 16 but came up short, crashing near the tee box on the eighth hole of the neighboring golf course owned by the city of Fredericksburg, Scoggins said.
The plane was heavily damaged, but Turc was unhurt and Herbert was scraped, he said.
Scoggins said the flight originated at the Kestrel Airpark in Spring Branch.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators were on the scene Wednesday. The agency also investigated the May 25 crash of an ultra light plane that killed two men after taking off from a private ranch in Gillespie County.