Ultralight Crash Near Bemidji Leaves Pilot Dead

BEMIDJI (AP) - Authorities are investigating the crash of an ulltralight plane near Bemidji that killed one man and left another hospitalized.

The plane crashed around 7:15 p.m. Monday at a grass landing strip west of Bemidji. The pilot, 49-year-old Jay Russell Davis, of Bemidji, died at the scene. His passenger, 56-year-old Paul Jerome Wannarka, of Bemidji, was airlifted to a Fargo, N.D., hospital.

In a news release Tuesday, Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp says witnesses reported the plane was banking through a turn - apparently preparing to land - when the wing struck the ground causing the plane to crash.

Hodapp says witnesses told investigators that Davis was an experienced ultralight pilot.

Davis took up passengers for at least three uneventful flights Monday night before the crash.

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