Photo by Louisiana State Police of Ray Martin’s airplane yesterday morning, 06.03.14
MONROE, La. via WHITE CO., Ill.—Friends and relatives of the White County-area pilot who crash-landed in a Monroe, Louisiana, McDonald’s yesterday morning say he’s recovering after some significant injuries he received in the crash.
Michael Ray Martin, 41, of Carmi, was the pilot and sole occupant of a fixed-wing craft that had been on a test flight around the Monroe area yesterday when it went down there in town.
The plane, registered to WFO Flying Service in Carmi, had been housed in Monroe apparently since last November when flight records show he was there. Martin flies in the White County area as a crop duster but visits Monroe regularly. It was incorrectly reported yesterday across a wide variety of media that the plane originated from Carmi yesterday morning; but contact with Louisiana officials revealed that that was a mistaken impression given the last known flight record of the Beechcraft plane.
Friends and relatives have advised that Martin’s injuries amounted to facial fractures, broken bones, and a required knee replacement. One source told Disclosure last night: “They have sewed up Ray’s face. Don’t believe the facial fractures will require surgery. Just went into surgery for 10 hours or so. Knee replacement and work on other broken bones. He told the surgeon to hurry up cause he has to be at work Monday.”
So at least Martin has a good attitude, but with those kinds of physical injuries, it’s unlikely he’ll be doing much of anything Monday other than recovering. We’re glad the situation wasn’t worse, which it could have been; no one on the ground was injured in the crash. A good pilot knows how to crash-land a plane, and evidently, Martin is that kind of pilot; good job.
The NTSB hasn’t yet issued a reason for the plane going down, and it may take months of investigation for such a thing to be discovered.