Federal officials are investigating after a single-engine plane crash Saturday at the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport that killed the pilot.

Dale Snodgrass was the lone occupant of the SIAI-Marchetti fixed-wing aircraft when it crashed around noon during takeoff, according to a news release from airport Manager Michael Isaacs. Snodgrass’s age and hometown were not listed.

The aircraft came down in a field and caught fire just off the airport’s taxiway Charlie, according to Lewiston Fire Department Chief Travis Myklebust.

The fire department responded to a call at 12:11 p.m. Saturday that a small plane carrying one or two passengers had crashed at the airport, Myklebust said in a news release. Firefighters attacked the fire with a hose line and the airport’s aircraft rescue truck and brought the fire under control in fewer than five minutes. The fire was contained to the airplane and a small area of grass next to the taxiway.

First responders confirmed that Snodgrass was alone aboard the airplane, and didn’t survive.

https://lmtribune.com/plane-crashes-at-lewiston-airport-condition-of-pilot-unknown/article_9923d6a4-ecc0-11eb-aeb9-57005902859d.html