Pilot hospitalized after plane crash in suburban Will County

PEOTONE, Ill. (AP) - A pilot was hospitalized Friday after his small plane crashed in rural south suburban Will County.

The plane appeared to have gone down at a steep angle into a wooded area next to a creek, WBBM-TV reported. The engine had come loose from the firewall, and it appeared that the plane stalled out and came down at a nose-down, vertical attitude, it said.

The pilot was freed after being trapped inside the wreckage and was airlifted to University of Chicago Medical Center. His medical condition was not immediately available. He was the only person aboard.

The plane was a single-engine Patterson Glasair II, WLS-TV reported.

The crash occurred northeast of Peotone and south of Monee around 3:20 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

A heavy tow truck was sent to the scene to try to stabilize the back end of the plane's fuselage.

What caused the plane crash was not immediately clear.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

No further details were immediately available.