Superior Crash Barriers

Whatever works:

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- ... A small plane crashed into a storage yard full of portable potties Friday afternoon near Thun Field just minutes after taking off from the field.

Pilot Clifford Howell of Lake Bay told investigators at about 150 feet in the air, his engine quit. He banked and tried to make it back to the runway, but came up short.

...Witnesses say the plane bounced off the rows of portable toilets in a storage yard at the north end of the field, flipped, then landed upside down on a pile of wood chips.

...Investigators say the toilets and the wood chips cushioned a potentially dangerous landing.

...Help arrived within seconds, and Howell, who was the only person on board, was able to get clear of the wreck. He was on his own feet, but not without injuries.

"He had an impact injury to his forehead, and for precautionary reasons we sent him to Good Samaritan Hospital to get checked out," said Blair.

Howell has been treated and released.