NEW ERA, Mich. — FAA and NTSB officials have arrived on the scene of a fatal powered-parachute crash in Benona Township.
The Oceana County Sheriff’s Office says in a news release a 63-year-old man from Rothbury was piloting the motorized parachute when it went down on S. 56th Avenue, a quarter-mile north of W. Stony Lake Road.
Police identified the pilot as Terrence Dykstra, and say he was driven by Life EMS ambulance to Mercy Health-Lakeshore Campus in Shelby, where he died. There were no other passengers, and no one was injured on the ground.
According to the news release, “Calls to 911 began coming in at 10:42 a.m. indicating that a powered parachute had crashed…callers to 911 told dispatchers at Mason-Oceana 911 that the aircraft was approximately 25-30 feet off from the roadway. Witness statements advise that the aircraft was low-flying when the parachute collapsed and then crashed.”
The Sheriff’s Office says federal investigators were dispatched to the crash scene late Saturday afternoon.
