The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a plane crash Friday evening at Gadabout Gaddis Airport in Bingham.

The pilot and passenger, both from Rhode Island, were not hurt in the crash, according to Cpl. Ritchie Putnam of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency workers arrived to find a small, single-engine plane had gone off the northern end of the runway and nosed into the Kennebec River. The pilot was trying to land and could not stop at the end of the runway.

Arlene Salac of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Eastern Regional Office in New York City said Saturday morning the Piper PA28 went into the river at 6:28 p.m. Friday.

A link to an FAA website said the fixed-wing, single-engine plane, manufactured in 1973, is registered to David A. Stukus of West Kingston, Rhode Island.

A tractor was used to remove the damaged plane from the river, according to Putnam, who responded to the crash with Bingham firefighters and the Upper Kennebec Valley Ambulance Service.

The FAA was notified of the crash, as was the state Department of Environmental Protection, because fuel spilled from the plane during the crash.

 


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