Pilot charged in small plane crash near Downers Grove

A 45-year-old Woodridge man is in police custody after he crashed a single-engine Cessna 182 plane near the Brookeridge Air Park in unincorporated DuPage County, near Downers Grove.

Sean Oskvarek was charged with a felony count of operating an aircraft under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according officials at the DuPage County Sheriff's Office.

He is being held in DuPage County jail on $100,000 bail.

Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District crews responded to the crash shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in a grassy area just east of the runway in the Brookeridge subdivision, located near the 8500 block of Kearney Road.

Fire officials said Oskvarek was gone by the time fire crews arrived on the scene and was later found at a private home in Woodridge.

The plane was heading west toward one of the runways when it clipped the roof of a house in the 8400 block of Kentwood Court, damaging that home, fire officials said. A nearby car also was damaged by falling debris. The plane then flew into some tall evergreens and flipped upside down, fire officials said.

The FAA is investigating the circumstances of the crash, said DuPage sheriff's officials.

Darien fire officials said damage to the home and car are minor, and the plane sustained extensive damage.

Oskvarek was transported to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove for minor injuries, including a gash to his forehead, and was released.

His next court date is 9 a.m. Dec. 22.