Maple Park pilot dead, toddler injured in rural DeKalb County plane crash

HINCKLEY – A Maple Park resident died and a toddler was injured Saturday in a small plane crash in rural DeKalb County, authorities said.

Deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and first responders with the Hinckley police and fire departments, Waterman Fire Department and Big Rock Fire Department responded to reports of the crash around 3:30 p.m. at Hinckley Airfield, 12747 U.S. 30, according to a news release.

A 51-year-old pilot was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sheriff Andy Sullivan called the deadly crash Saturday “a tragedy.” A 3-year-old suffered injuries, was hospitalized at Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb and then transferred to Lurie’s Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Sullivan said the child is stable, however.

Authorities have not publicly identified the pilot as of Saturday night pending notification of next of kin. The pilot and child were the only people in the plane at the time, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the pilot took off from Hinckley Airfield in a 1946 Aeronca Champion 7AC single-engine plane. Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed in a farm field just west of the airfield.

Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating what caused the crash.

This is a developing story which could be updated.