Plane built by Cortland man crashes on very first flight

JOHNSTON -- A 62-year-old pilot suffered only minor injuries when the experimental aircraft he was flying crash-landed at a private airfield here Friday evening.
The pilot, Ronald D. Welday of Cadwallader-Sonk Road, Cortland, was treated at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital following the 7:40 p.m. accident at 5645 state Route 193.
Welday took off on the very first flight of the aircraft, which he had assembled, flew a short distance, saw that he wasn't gaining enough altitude and decided to land on the same airfield from which he had taken off, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. As he touched down, he skidded off the right side of the grass runway, hit a tree stump and overturned, the patrol said.