Shelter Island small-plane crash injures 2 slightly

Aviation officials are investigating a small-plane accident on Shelter Island that left the aircraft's pilot and passenger with minor injuries Sunday.

Shelter Island Town police said the crash occurred shortly after 1:40 p.m. on a grass airstrip off Burns Road and Cartwright Road after the plane took off from Klenawicus Airfield.

Pilot George C. DeMar, 83, of Westhampton Beach, and passenger Susan L. Klenawicus, 52, of Shelter Island, who is also listed as the plane's owner, both sustained minor injuries and were brought to Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport for treatment, officials said.

Shelter Island police, ambulance and firefighters arrived and found a 1929 Brewster Fleet 2 single-engine biplane nose down in the grass strip. Authorities said there was damage to the plane's propeller, nose section, wing structuring and landing gear.

DeMar told officials the crash was caused by engine complications. Police said the plane was released to Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators to determine the cause.

According to FAA online records, the airplane was last certified for flight in August 2003 and was not due for another certification until January 2018.

The incident is the second vintage-biplane accident involving Klenawicus Airfield in just over a month. On July 26, pilot Robert Fritts, 88, of Manorville, flipped his 1943 Boeing Stearman Model 75 as he taxied at the airfield.

Fritts, a World War II veteran, sustained some bruises in the crash and was treated at Stony Brook University Hospital. Reached by phone Sunday evening, Fritts said he was "healing up just fine."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.