Single Engine Plane Crashes in Urbana

The pilot of a single-engine plane was sent to the hospital with minor injuries, after his plane crashed Thursday morning at a home located north of Urbana.

The accident happened at the home of Steve and Brenda Rice on East Oaks Road, about a half-mile from Frasca Field. Steve Rice was inside his house at the time, and said he believes the plane glanced off the side of his house in the crash. He said the crash shook the house, and made a sound like a bomb going off.

"I really thought a truck had hit the house or something," Rice said. "So I went around to the front of the house, and there was a propeller in the front yard. And I walked around to the east side of the house, and there was a plane up against the east side of the house there. The engine was out of it, wings torn off."

Rice says he found the pilot, Daniel Folk, to be conscious and coherent, with the only visible injuries being a couple of cuts on his head. Folk was taken to Carle Foundation Hospital for treatment.

Champaign County Sheriff's Captain Tim Voges says that according to Tom Frasca at Frasca Field, the accident occurred while Folk was practicing landing in a crosswind. While preparing for a 2nd try at a landing, Folk banked to the north, but apparently failed to gain altitude. The wing of his plane caught in a field, flipping it over into the yard of the Rice's home. The accident is being investigated by the F-A-A.

NOTE: This story was updated to include more information from the Champaign County Sheriff's Department about the crash.