Pilot dies following Sunday crash

Michael Clements, the Canadian pilot who crashed his single engine plane in downtown Spokane Sunday afternoon, has died. Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center confirmed Clements’ death Tuesday afternoon. He had been in critical condition since the crash. Clements, of Stony Plain, Alberta, was flying a single-engine Piper Malibu that had just taken off from Felts Field when it crashed north of East Sprague Avenue at Erie Street, near the Hamilton Street bridge over the Spokane River. The plane lost power a short time after it took off, hit the top of a BNSF railroad viaduct over Erie and crumpled to the ground there. Spokane police officers who responded to the crash said Clements was upside down, unconscious and trapped in the cockpit following the crash. They were able to cut his seat belt and remove him from the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. The lead investigator said she did not have any preliminary information about the cause as of Tuesday afternoon.