A student pilot cheated death during a crash landing at a small Massachusetts airport on Saturday — walking away without a scratch, police said.
The unnamed pilot was flying solo and practicing landings in a three-passenger aircraft at the Mansfield Municipal Airport, about an hour south of Boston, when the accident occurred around 9:30 a.m., the Mansfield Police Department said.
The pilot tried to land 180 yards from the designated landing area, police said. Upon touching down, the right side of the landing gear snapped, propelling the plane onto the tip of its right wing. The aircraft then skidded off of the runway for about 200 yards.
The plane suffered an estimated $45,000 worth of damages, police said. Federal investigators remained at the scene Saturday.
This was not the first flight crash at Mansfield airport, according to reports. On Oct. 12, 2012, a plane flew into trees, and on March 9, 2013, another flight instructor had to make a crash landing into trees, which saved the lives of himself and a student pilot.