Pilot Walks Away From Crash, Also Involved In ‘95 Accident

Thu., June 12, 1997

Craig Welch And Kevin Blocker S Staff writer

A Nine Mile Falls man crashed his tiny biplane Wednesday into a tree near the top of Lookout Pass but walked away with minor cuts and bruises, authorities said.

It’s the second time in two years the man has been involved in a plane crash.

Jim Coombes, 36, was flying in from Helena in his 1985 Staudacher stunt plane when he ran into trouble over Interstate 90 east of the Montana-Idaho border about 3:30 p.m.

“He was trying to make a turn or something and just fell,” said Wallace Police Sgt. Art Harris. “We’re not sure what happened yet.”

Authorities believe he hit heavy weather and crashed into the south side of the pass. Witnesses said the plane careened over an embankment and landed upside down in a tree. All four wings were broken off.

Coombes walked to the highway where a motorist picked him up. The driver called ahead on a cellular telephone and an ambulance met them in Wallace.

Coombes was taken to Silver Valley Medical Center at 6 p.m. and released a couple of hours later.

“He was just talking away,” Harris said. “He looked pretty bloody, but he just had a cut on his head and maybe some cracked or broken ribs.”

In February 1995, Coombes crashed a Pitts Special near Suncrest, when the stunt plane’s propeller fell off. The plane landed on its top, but Coombes walked away from the wreckage.

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