Va. pilot walks away from N.Y. crash of small plane

CLERMONT, N.Y. -- The pilot of a single-engine plane has escaped serious injury after his newly bought aircraft flipped over while making a crash landing in a Hudson Valley field.

State police say 50-year-old pilot Jay Morrissett of Bumpass, Va., was the only person on board the 1946 Ercoupe yesterday afternoon when he reported that the plane was losing power because of a mechanical problem.

Troopers say Morrissett landed the plane in a farm field in Clermont in Columbia County, 40 miles south of Albany. The plane hit an embankment and overturned.

Morrissett suffered minor cuts and was treated at the scene.

Authorities say he had bought the plane in Concord, N.H., and was heading for Kingston before his final destination in Virginia.

-- The Associated Press