BOWDOINHAM

A small plane made an emergency landing in the southbound lane of Interstate 295 in Bowdoinham  at about 10:15 a.m. this morning. The plane collided with a guardrail off the breakdown lane, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The single-engine 1947 Cesna was flying to an airport in Turner when the engine failed, according to a state trooper at the scene this morning.

According to public safety spokesman Stephen McCausland, the pilot, John Gayley, 59, of Bowdoin told troopers he had taken off from the Bowdoinham airfield and the engine stalled when he attempted to switch fuel tanks. Gayley had planned to fly to the airfield in Turner.

Gayley landed the plane in the southbound lane, against traffic, and the plane then veered into the guardrail, along the breakdown lane.  One vehicle had to swerve to avoid the plane as it landed. 

Gayley walked away from the wreck, according to McCausland, but sustained facial injuries and was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland. A passenger, Rodney Voisene, also of Bowdoin, sustained a minor injury to an arm and was taken to a local hospital.

As of noon, traffic has been reduced to one lane southbound in the area of the crash but was moving. 

Firefighters also responded in order to clean up fuel spilled from the plane. The FAA was notified and expected to respond.  A wrecker was to remove the plane from the road in the afternoon.