By Jack Gurner
and John Howell Sr.

A pilot whose plane crashed near Oakland Wednesday underwent surgery for a broken leg Thursday, a spokesman for the Millington, Tenn. Airport said.

Cass Choate from Somerville, Tenn., was airlifted to the Med in Memphis after his Pitts S-2B aerobatic plane crashed just after noon about one mile east of I-55 and just south of Hwy. 32 near Oakland.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac told the Associated Press that the biplane was performing aerobatic maneuvers when the engine failed and the plane crashed into the wooded area.

“Everything went quiet, his engine, and he just went down,” the Millington Airport spokesman said. Choate also suffered minor cuts on his face and head, she added. Choate keeps his aircraft at the Millington airport, she said.

Panola County Airport Manager Randy Turman said that the pilot had refueled there before the crash.

“That’s a souped-up, aerobatic plane,” Turman said of the Pitts aircraft.

First responders extracted the pilot from the wreckage and then airlifted him to the Memphis trauma facility.

Several attributed the pilot’s survival to thick kudzu which absorbed the force of impact.