RUCH -- An Oregon State Police trooper was killed an another man was critically injured when their ultralight plane crashed near the site of a lit-plane enthusiasts' barbeque.
Trooper Ralph Springer, 48, died Saturday. He was a passenger in a single-engine, two-person plane owned and piloted by Robert Duncan, 51. They crashed after making an approach to land at a private airstrip west of Ruch, in southwest Jackson County.
Springer had written about the workaday lives of state troopers in a weekly column, "Cop's Corner," for the Medford Mail Tribune newspaper.
Springer was pronounced dead at the scene. Duncan was airlifted from the site and taken to a Medford hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition. He suffered a broken vertebra in his neck and internal injuries.
Duncan, who owns Sonitrol of Southern Oregon, was flying an RV 6 aircraft, a kit plane he had bought about four years ago, said his son, Matt.
The two men had flown from Medford to Ruch to attend a barbeque sponsored by the Medford chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, Jackson county sheriff's deputy Eric Fox said.
Art Lumley, a retired commercial pilot who attended the barbeque, saw Duncan's plane fly down the runway without landing.
Lumley said he thought that Duncan planned to gain altitude, fly a circle, and make another approach to land.
"He was heading for the hills," Lumley said. "I had that sinking feeling that you do sometimes. Then I heard the crash. No big boom, just metal bending."
_____________________________________________________