STANDISH – When the engine on William “Billy” Werth’s Birchler Boyd Eagle 540 biplane died 5,000 feet above the Lakes Region on Sunday, the 44-year-old Indianapolis stunt pilot first sought to “troubleshoot” the problem. A few moments of failed fixes later, Werth, an 18-year Air Force reservist who has deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and has logged more than 10,000 hours, determined the situation required a different approach.

After performing in the Acadian Heritage Air Show in Frenchville, located in Aroostook County, Werth was flying to the Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport to fuel up on his way home to Indiana late Sunday afternoon when the amateur-built plane’s engine malfunctioned. In search of a suitable emergency runway below, Werth’s eyes fixated on Route 35, or Northeast Road, in Standish.

“After a couple of seconds of that not working, I had to transition to stop troubleshooting and realize that I had to put the airplane down somewhere safe,” Werth said.

“That was really the only option for me,” he said. “That was the only spot that was open. Everything else was trees or really small fields that I didn’t know what was in them.”

Down below, Rick Breton of Monmouth was driving his Chevy Tahoe 55 mph northbound along a wooded area of Route 35, when he noticed the biplane heading directly toward him at 80 mph.

“We’re doing about 130 mph at each other,” said Breton, who is also a private pilot. “The last time I looked up the airplane was like 300 yards in front of my window. He would have come right through my window.”

“He was coming so fast that I ducked in my seat,” said Breton’s wife, Cheryl, who was in the passenger seat.

About three minutes after his engine failed, Werth, flying south several hundred feet over Route 35, executed a side flip, attempting to slow down the plane as he headed toward the ground at a 25-degree angle in preparation for landing. Werth, managing to fly just over the cars, proceeded to clip an oak tree with his wing, and hit a telephone wire hanging across the road with the tail of his plane.

“I was floating it over the top of the cars to try to miss them and then at about 15 feet the airplane just stopped flying and pretty much just fell,” Werth said. “It landed on the road and the landing gear all folded up so I’m just sliding without any control at all, and it slid off the road into a ditch.”

Cindy Butler, a resident of 272 Northeast Road, was facing her home and mowing her front lawn when Werth came to rest in her front yard.

“I thought a car had pulled out of the street in front of another vehicle,” Butler said. “It sounded like screeching metal.”

As Butler turned around, she saw the plane crash into the ditch at about 15 miles per hour.

“I was quite shocked to say the least,” she said. “It’s not something you see every day on Route 35.”

“It kind of interrupted everything, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m done mowing,’ ” Butler said.

According to Standish Fire-Rescue Chief Brent Libby, about 25 emergency responders from Standish, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash. Werth was transported to Maine Medical Center as a “precaution,” Libby said. He was released that evening, after receiving two stitches in his hand.

“Considering what I went through, I’m doing pretty awesome,” Werth said. “It was pretty intense. Overall, it wasn’t as horrible as I thought because just out of sheer luck and the grace of God I didn’t get injured more than I did.”

Breton said he was stunned by Werth’s emergency landing. If Werth had hit the telephone wire, he could have been badly hurt, Breton said.

“If he had been two or three inches higher, the wire would have torn that canopy right off that thing,” Bretin said. “It would have decapitated that whole canopy.”

“Being a great pilot has something to do with it, but I’m telling you that guy is blessed,” he added.

Werth has trained for such catastrophes.

“We’ve practiced emergency procedures like this so often, it’s almost like now you’ve got a job to do,” Werth said. “You really don’t have time to be scared because you’ve got things to take care of.”

Breton said that he has not been able to stop thinking about the crash since. His wife, he said, was inconsolable for hours after the crash.

“My wife cried until about 9:30 that night,” Breton said. “She couldn’t believe she was still here. She was so emotional about it the whole night.”

Stephen Stein, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board’s Eastern Region office, will lead the investigation of the incident. According to Stein, the board will release an executive summary and probable cause of the crash within approximately 13 months.

Werth’s plane is being held at Copp Motors in Cumberland. According to Werth, the bottom wings of the plane are broken and the lending gear is bent out of shape.

“I’m not an insurance guy,” Werth said. “I’m thinking it’s pretty bad.”

On Tuesday, Werth was driving a rental car through Massachusetts on his way home.

Reflecting on his feelings as he shot toward the ground Sunday, Werth said he didn’t think too much about his mortality on the way down.

“We’ve practiced emergency procedures like this so often, it’s almost like, ‘Now you’ve got a job to do,’ ” he said. “You really don’t have time to be scared because you’ve got things to take care of.”

William “Billy” Werth, a 44-year-old Indianapolis stunt pilot and 18-year Air Force reservist, landed his Birchler Boyd Eagle 540 biplane on Route 35 Sunday after his engine failed. “If there were no cars on the road there, the landing would have been pretty smooth,” said William “Billy” Werth, of his emergency landing on Route 35 in Standish Sunday.