MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Authorities investigate the site of a plane crash at the Williamsport Regional Airport Monday afternoon.

A Williamsport area man piloting a single-engine Cessna aircraft escaped injury when he made a rough landing Monday afternoon on a runway at the Williamsport Regional Airport, causing moderate damage to the airplane, according to Jonathan Baker, the airport’s director of operations and safety.

“The pilot was already climbing out of the aircraft when airport firefighters arrived at the scene,” Baker said.

It was believed that “a gust of wind caught the plane between its final landing and rollout (taxiing),” Baker said.

The pilot’s name was not released and no information was available on where he was coming from.

“The plane touched down once and went back up a little bit, bouncing around,” said one witness, a Turbotville area man who witnessed the landing from a window near the airport’s lobby.

“The landing was far from perfect,” the man, who declined to give his name, said.

“He was back and forth on the runway, and then he veered into the grass. I thought the aircraft was going to flip,” he added.

Another witness said it appeared to her as well that the aircraft “bounced up and down before it took a nose-dive.” The woman also declined to give her name.

Baker said damage was limited to the aircraft’s wing, propeller and engine. The aircraft was towed to one of the airport’s hangars, where it will be examined by investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Harrisburg office, who were expected to come to the airport later today.