This morning (Tuesday, August 10, 2021) around 8:00 a.m., PCSO received calls about an aircraft crash alongside Coronet Road in Mulberry, and deputies along with Polk County Fire Rescue responded to the scene.
The pilot of the maroon DeltaJet Apollo Light Sport aircraft, 71-year-old Charles McLochlin of Lake Placid, was conducting “touch and go” landings on the grassy runway that parallels Coronet, when on his fourth “touch and go” the front wheel collapsed upon landing, causing the nose of the craft to collide with the ground, and then rotate and come to a stop in a ditch.
McLochlin and his passenger, 68-year-old Michael Hano of Lakeland, were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
