CLATSKANIE, Ore. -- A pilot was uninjured after a small plane crashed into the Columbia River and flipped onto a sandbar on Wallace Island on Tuesday.
The pilot, 67-year-old Douglas Paul Pflugradt, of Mattawa, Washington, told police he was attempting to land on Wallace Island at about 1:30 p.m. because his plane started having mechanical issues.
The pilot was uninjured in the crash. There were no passengers in the plane. The U.S. Coast Guard transported him to Pearson Airfield in Vancouver.
Crews are trying to remove the plane before the tide rises.