Buckhannon’s Record-Delta publishes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but hustled out to cover a plane crash over the weekend and posted the news on Facebook:
“According to corporal Jason Queen with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, James Meadows, 30, of Hendersonville, Tenn., was flying a single-engine Cirrus SR22 when he experienced an engine failure while on approach to the Upshur County Regional Airport Saturday evening.
Fortunately, the plane was still above the altitude required to deploy the emergency parachute, which allowed Meadows to drift to the ground, where he just skimmed a truck driven by Billy King, 42, of Buckhannon, ripping off a side mirror. The plane came to a rest on Brushy Fork Road, about 100 yards from the intersection with Route 33.
King, who was on his way to work, said he initially thought a power line had fallen on his vehicle.
Both he and the pilot were uninjured, but shaken, according to Queen.
“I must have had angels watching over me,” King said of the close call.
