By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Emergency crews examine a twin-engine airplane that crashed in a Taylor Mill rail yard (Enquirer photo) | ZOOM |

TAYLOR MILL - A pilot flying equipment from Kansas to a Cinergy power plant escaped serious injury Sunday when he crash-landed his twin-engine airplane in a Taylor Mill rail yard.

Greg Burgess was headed for Lunken Airport with parts needed at the Beckjord power station in New Richmond when he lost his left engine about 4 p.m. and started circling in search of a flat spot to land. Then the right engine quit.

So Burgess put the plane down on the property of Progress Rail Services, along Decoursey Pike. The plane's left wing broke off when he hit the tracks.

"It's amazing he didn't hit anything else,'' said Taylor Mill Police Chief Steve Knauf. "He landed on tracks that haven't been used in years.''

Burgess, 35, was taken to University Hospital by ambulance. He was out of the plane when the first officers arrived, Knauf said, and was able to tell them what happened. He started the trip in Manhattan, Kan.

Tom Caudill, a machinist for Progress, said company workers weren't at the scene when it happened, but that a couple of them responded to help.

A police officer followed Burgess to the hospital to talk with him more about what went wrong, Knauf said.

Other officials stood in the freezing rain at the scene, waiting for representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board to respond.

Until the federal officials arrived, Knauf said, the equipment would have to stay on the plane.

"We're hoping they get here soon,'' the chief said. "Apparently Cinergy needs these parts quickly.''

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com