Update: No Injuries After Small Plane Goes Down Near Julian

This story was updated to reflect that the plane made a hard landing, but did not crash.

A small experimental aircraft made a hard landing Saturday near Eagle Peak near Julian, but its pilot was not injured, authorities said.

Cal Fire crews were dispatched to the downed aircraft in a rural area about 2 miles off Eagle Peak Road shortly before 1 p.m., Battalion Chief Nick Schuler of Cal Fire said.

Preliminary information indicated the Van's RV-10, a single-engine homebuilt plane, made a hard landing on a dirt road about 10 miles east of Ramona and sustained substantial damage, Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said.

What caused the plane to go down was unknown, as was the altitude of the aircraft prior to its rapid descent, according to Schuler.

The pilot was the only occupant of the four-seat aircraft and was not injured, Schuler said. He was taken from the site via San Diego County Sheriff’s Department helicopter.

Schuler said it was standard to report any incidents involving a downed aircraft to the FAA. The aircraft’s tail number was not immediately available.

Kenitzer said both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the incident and the NTSB was the lead investigative agency. A NTSB investigator usually posts a basic preliminary report on the ntsb.gov website within a week or two of the incident, although it typically takes months to come up with the probable cause of accidents.

-City News Service