AITKIN — A Brainerd man and his passenger were uninjured when the aircraft they were in crashed just after noon Tuesday, June 9, at the Aitkin Municipal Airport.
A 911 call came into the Aitkin County dispatch offices at 12:11 p.m. regarding a single engine aircraft that crashed at the airport. The Aitkin police and fire departments and the Aitkin County Sheriff's Office all responded to the scene.
A fixed-wing, single-engine Cessna plane crashed on the grass portion of the runway north of the airport, the Aitkin Police Department reported in a news release. The pilot Ryan Frank, 22, of Brainerd and his passenger Kenneth Mehr, 63, of Deerwood were not injured. The aircraft sustained structure damage.
According to a 2015 Brainerd Dispatch story, the pilot, Frank, was 17 and a junior at Brainerd High School when he earned his private pilot’s license. Frank did his flight instruction through Airmotive Enterprises at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration will assist the police department with the investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
