THE AURORA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, JUST WEST OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, had to call the Sugar Grove Fire Protection District Saturday afternoon after a home-made aircraft crashed and burned.

WMAQ

Or more precisely, burned and crashed.  The unidentified pilot had just taken off when a fire flared up in the engine compartment.  He immediately returned to the private airstrip and attempted an emergency landing.  But when he touched down, his landing gear collapsed and he skidded out of control about 1,000 feet down the runway before coming to a stop.

He then bailed out of the burning airplane, but escaped with only some singeing to the back of his head.  It isn’t known yet if he was authorized to use the plane.  By the time the FD arrived on the scene, the fire was pretty well out and the plane was completely destroyed.

Chicago Ch. 5 has the STORY.

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