Ruhnu Plane Crash

Our correspondent almost aboard

A Britten-Norman B-2 aircraft traveling from Pärnu crashed into a pine forest 200 meters short of the runway on Estonia’s Ruhnu Island. Neither the pilot nor his two passengers were injured, but the aircraft was deemed “unusable” (its wings were ripped off). Although investigations are still underway, pilot error has been cited as the likely cause. The pilot was flying in heavy fog and decided to put the plane down where he thought the runway was. Unfortunately, his guess was off by 200 meters.

Three days prior to the crash, City Paper’s combat photographer, Sophia Lee Wirth, was aboard the same plane with the same pilot on the same route. Wirth was visiting the island on assignment for City Paper, and she has chronicled the Estonian island’s reluctant transition from Russian-made to German-made aircraft. Watch for her story in a future City Paper print edition.