Click here to see the story.

Sumner school officials plan to resume classes Friday at Lakeridge Middle School.

The school sent students home this morning after diesel fumes from a backhoe began drifting into the school's ventilation system.

The fumes didn't sicken students.

District spokeswoman Ann Cook says the school will run the heating-ventilation system tonight and conduct additional air tests Friday.

About 550 students attend the middle school.

Here's the automated e-mail the district sent at 4:22 p.m. today:

=> Read more!

KOMO-TV reported on its 4 p.m. newscast that an airplane crashed this afternoon at Thun Field south of Puyallup.

The station broadcast video of a single-engine plane flipped onto its top.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer confirmed a mishap involving a plane, possibly during landing.

We've got calls out for more information.

UPDATE (4:13 p.m.): Hunter George, a spokesman for Pierce County, tells Lights & Sirens two people who were on board the small plane walked away from the crash under their own power.

AUBURN, Wash. (AP) — The pilot of a small plane managed to deploy the plane’s parachute and make an emergency landing in the yard of a home east of Auburn, Wash. Authorities say it appears no one was injured.
The pilot had taken off from an airport at Enumclaw on Monday when a bolt came loose and prompted him to take emergency action.

A page to a King County Sheriff spokesman has not been returned.

Alaska Airlines has canceled all flights to Anchorage today because of ash clouds moving toward Anchorage after today's eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Flights should resume tomorrow morning.

"We recognize these cancellations will significantly impact our customers intending to travel to or from Alaska," said Ben Minicucci, Alaska Air's chief operating officer, in a news release. "These decisions are guided by our commitment to safety, and we are making every effort to re-accommodate customers whose travel plans have been disrupted."

Passengers who have tickets for a flight scheduled for today or Friday can rebook before next Thursday without penalty or apply for a full refund.

A 68-year-old helicopter pilot was killed Sunday afternoon as he tried to land at a private landing zone near Olalla, Kitsap Sheriff’s officials said.

The man, who was not identified, was trying to land and pick up a passenger in the 12600 block of Banner Road Southeast just before 3 p.m., sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson said. But something went wrong, causing him to crash into some trees, setting the craft down near a house, but not damaging the house or hurting anyone on the ground.

“This guy is a hell of a hero,” Wilson said of the way the pilot avoided obstacles on the ground. “It looks like he just lost momentum.” The cockpit was crushed when the craft rolled, he said.

The pilot took off from Bremerton National Airport in a Robinson R22, which is often used for training student helicopter pilots. He lived near the crash site and had cleared a landing zone on his own property, Wilson said.

“What we don’t know is if it was a mechanical problem or some sort of medical condition,” Wilson said.

Witnesses told investigators they heard the engine revving and then a popping noise before the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

Pierce County sheriff's deputies were investigating the report of a plane down near Thun Field.

Deputies were talking on the phone with the pilot, who said he went down in the brush about two miles southeast of the airstrip on South Hill, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

The pilot is not injured and said he was the only one on the plane. The plane went down around 10:45 a.m.

Deputies were responding to the scene and looking for the plane, which is described as a blue-and-white RV 6 single engine, Troyer said.

UPDATE: With the help of a news helicopter, deputies have located the pilot, Troyer said.

He was in a wooded area near a water tower in the 13800 block of 176th Street East.

A paramedic and deputies were with the man. He sustained "very minor" injuries, Troyer said.

Deputies were continuing to interview the pilot about what happened.

UPDATE 2: Here is a screen shot of the downed plane from the web site of our news partners, KIRO TV.

The King County Sheriff's Office will show off it's new Guardian One aircraft today at a press conference.

The new aircraft is a Bell 407. It was built in Canada and outfitted for police duties in Tennessee. A federal Department of Homeland Security grant of $3.4 million paid for the new aircraft, the Sheriff's Office reported.

The helicopter will be used in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties to fight crime, search for missing persons and be an asset in natural disasters or a terrorist incident. The office also has air contracts with the state Department of Ecology, Coast Guard and the King County Department of Natural Resources.

The Sheriff's Office's other helicopters are 1970s era and are becoming increasingly more expensive to keep in the air.

The new helicopter will be the primary aircraft used for police work. A UH-1N Huey will be used for rescues, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor and Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick are scheduled to attend today's press conference.

A Pierce County Sheriff’s Department plane landed safely at Thun Field on Thursday afternoon after losing power and plummeting 1,000 feet during a surveillance mission, spokesman Ed Troyer said.

“They went through emergency procedures and were able to get it started again,” he said, noting the pilot had already selected a landing spot if it became necessary.

The Cessna, which was carrying two people, was near the Tacoma Mall when the failure happened. Mechanics are going over the craft to determine what went wrong.

From the catch-up file ...

The Washington State Patrol's aircraft helped recover a stolen motorcycle last week, the agency reported.

The motorcycle was equipped with a LoJack system, a hidden device that - when activated - sends out locater signals. The motorcycle was reported stolen Wednesday from the owner's workplace, the State Patrol reported.

Thirty-three minutes after the motorcycle was reported as stolen, the State Patrol's aircraft picked up its signal and pinpointed it's location to a garage in the 30200 block of Military Road in Federal Way, trooper reported.

Three people were arrested and other suspected stolen items recovered.

"If you steal things from people, we're coming after you," said Lt. Tristan Atkins, commander of WSP's Aviation Division, in a press release. "This technology is pretty amazing."

"In essence, you can ride but you can't hide," he added.

EVEN MORE NEW STUFF: Stacey just talked to Battalion Chief Erik Pearson of Gig Harbor Fire.

Pearson says the twin-engine Aero Commander (like one seen here) crashed while a student pilot and his instructor were practicing touch-and-goes about 11:04 a.m.

Apparently, a portion of the landing gear collapsed during the "touch" portion of the maneuver, Pearson says, and the plane hit the runway.

The student – described as an older man – was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Pearson said. Crews at the airport have contained a small fuel spill.

The runway remains closed until further notice.

NEW STUFF: Stacey is now on the scene. She says the plane's landing gear apparently collapsed on landing. Two people were on board. One of them may have suffered a scrape of some kind.

OLD STUFF: An airplane crash-landed at Tacoma Narrows Airport just after 11 a.m. today, authorities reported.

There are no reports of injuries, but apparently some fuel has spilled onto the runway. Emergency crews are en route.

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Search and rescue folks will be out again today in their quest to find a missing 78-year-old pilot and his airplane.

Thomas Maxwell was last seen Thursday night as he took off from Crest Airpark in Kent in his Piper Dakota. He was reported missing Sunday night.

Searchers have been looking by air and over the ground for Maxwell for two days. Wednesday will be the third full day of the search.

Radar information has focused the search area to a densely wooded spot about seven miles southeast of Thun Field.