Byhalia Crash
Pictured: A homebuilt Aussie Ultralight. The one involved in this crash is no doubt a completely different type.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Phil Vabre
What: 250 lb single-engine true Ultralight aircraft
Where: Desoto County soybean field near the intersection of Stateline and Center Hill Roads.
When: 10/2/09
Who: 52 year-old Louis Bassie of Byhalia Mississippi
Why: As he was coming in for a landing, Bassie’s plane took a nose-dive, spiraled out-of-control and crashed. Bassie had a pilot’s license, worked as a crop-duster, and had served in the military, but it does not take a license to fly a home built kit plane.
Federal authorities will not be investigating the crash of an unlicensed plane.