"I heard the engine sputtering:" Plane crashes on the Bugline Trail in Lannon



WAUKESHA CO. (WITI) -- A small plane crashed along the Bugline Trail in the Village of Lannon during the lunch hour on Monday, September 22nd -- sending two people to the hospital.

Two people were inside the plane. The pilot a 79-year-old from Pewaukee, and the passenger a 46-year-old from India. They took off from the Capitol Drive Airport in Brookfield on Monday morning. What caused the plane to crash is under investigation.

A witness tells FOX6 News it sounded as if the plane was in distress before it crashed.

"Somebody had said he was flying sort of low," Dave Niebler, who owns property near where the plane crashed said.



"He was going west and I could see him going down, like down the block, and then he made his turn up to the north," Dan Yendrezski said.

"Just right over the roof of my house. I heard the engine sputtering. I could hear him when he was coming. It sounded like he was in trouble," Robert Hasslegrave said.

Officials say the plane crashed with a full tank of gas. Fuel leaked from the plane, and had to be cleaned up. The aircraft was removed from the place where it crashed shortly before 3 p.m. The plane suffered extensive damage.

The trail between Good Hope Rd. and Town Line Rd. was shut down as the FAA investigated.