Photo by James Short.
Wednesday's crash was unavoidable déjà vu for Franconia Township -- and the pilot, police say
What looked like an eerie aviation coincidence in Franconia Township — two aircraft crashing in nearly the same square-mile patch two years apart — now has a twist that feels more sitcom than supernatural.
This week’s kit-style paraglider crash, which caused no life-threatening injuries, happened just yards from where a glider went down in 2023.
The crash triggered unavoidable déjà vu for longtime Franconia residents. Readers quickly joked about the area between Cowpath Road, Green Hill Road, Forrest Road, County Line Road and Rising Sun Road being some kind of bizarre Franconia “Bermuda Triangle,” even though the shape isn’t a triangle … or anything easily recognizable.
But according to Franconia Township Police Chief Michael Martin, the explanation is far less mysterious — and far more ironic.
“The 2023 operator came to Franconia to demonstrate a paraglider – not the same unit as the 2025 crash – for a possible sale to the 2025 operator,” Martin said. “During the demo flight, the 2023 operator crashed, and the paraglider was destroyed — no sale occurred. The 2025 operator built another unit, which he crashed on Wednesday.”
In other words: Two crashes. Same buyer. Same stretch of land. Different aircraft. Same outcome.
The 2023 incident happened when a seller brought a powered paraglider to Franconia to show a prospective buyer — who, as fate would have it, was the same man flying this week’s aircraft, who also fell 30 feet and later transported to St. Luke’s/Grand View for treatment.
What began as a seemingly odd local aviation pattern is just the strangest product review history imaginable.
No magnetic anomalies. No supernatural vortex. Just one patch of rural Franconia fields near Yoder’s Farm Market with a 0% success rate for human-propelled plane tryouts.
"Our hope is that this latest incident will end any future flights," Martin said.
Police did not release names of either pilot.
(Credit: Franconia Township Police)Wednesday’s incident
Franconia Township Police said officers were dispatched around 5:25 p.m. Wednesday to a farm field in the 700 block of Cowpath Road, near Yoder’s Farm Market, for a reported small plane crash. When officers arrived, they found that the pilot had been flying his Weedhopper 277 Ultralight, a kit-built aircraft, after dark when it struck the top of a tree.
The impact caused the pilot to fall an estimated 30 feet to the ground. He was conscious and alert when first responders reached him and was taken by ambulance to St. Luke’s Hospital/Grand View for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Police, along with Telford Fire Company, Tylersport Fire Company, Perseverance Fire Company of Souderton, and VMSC EMS, cleared the scene within an hour. The FAA was not immediately reported to be involved.
Police said no charges have been announced, and the investigation into Wednesday’s crash remains ongoing.
If a third aircraft ever comes down in the same grid, Franconia may officially start drawing lines on a map and giving the area a name.
For now, it is Franconia’s accidental aviation repeat zone — statistically unlikely, unintentionally humorous, and thankfully, two-for-two on survivable landings.
