BENZIE COUNTY - An Ohio pilot walked away unhurt from a crash landing at the Thompsonville Airport on Thursday night after Michigan State Police say the man forgot to engage the twin-engine Cessna’s landing gear and the plane slid about 250 yards down the runway.

The incident occurred just before 8:45 p.m. Thursday at the airport in Benzie County’s Weldon Township. When troopers responded to reports of a plane crash, they learned the 57-year-old pilot from Swanton, Ohio, “may have been distracted and forgot to put down the landing gear,” police said.

The pilot was the plane’s only occupant. He was flying from the Pellston airport to Thompsonville when the incident occurred.

When the Cessna touched down about halfway down the runway, it slid before coming to a rest. The plane’s underside and its propellers were damaged in the landing, police said.

A report detailing the incident and photographs of the plane were submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and investigation, authorities said.

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