UPDATED WITH NAMES: Two survive Port Clinton plane crash

Two local men — pilot Dennis Liebman, 60, and passenger Steven D. Smith, 43 — walked away with only bumps and bruises after a suspected mechanical problem downed their small plane just north of Ohio 2 near the Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport.Port Clinton police and Ottawa County sheriff's department received two separate 911 calls at 8:05 p.m. Thursday after the 2003 Mooney plane flew over Ohio 2 from the south and crash-landed in a small cluster of trees.State Highway Patrol troopers at the Sandusky post refused to release the names of the two men in the plane.The two men were evaluated at the scene before Highway Patrol troopers took them away in cruiser to be interviewed. Witnesses said both men initially declined medical treatment and, remarkably, suffered only "bumps and bruises."About three hours after the crash, however, state troopers said the pilot was taken to Magruder Hospital in Port Clinton to be evaluated for minor injuries.A large group of family and friends had gathered at about 9 p.m. near emergency vehicles at the edge of a field, near the crash site.A woman who said she is the mother of the passenger in the plane said everyone was just glad the men were OK."We're just glad it wasn't worse than it is," she said. "They got some bruises."The woman would not give her name, though she did say she and her son are Catawba Island Township residents.Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport director Jack Stables said he was getting mixed messages about what happened in the crash, though he believes the plane is regularly stored in a hanger at the airport.Before heading into the brush with firefighters to survey the damage, Stables said it's "a blessing" the men escaped injury.With daylight quickly fading immediately after the crash, emergency crews scrambled to douse the plane and a slick of fuel with fire retardant to keep the wreck from igniting.Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton said agents from the Federal Aviation Administration also arrived on scene shortly after the crash.Bratton said the survivors told him they suffered some kind of mechanical failure just before reaching the airport, their intended destination. The men were returning from a golf outing in Columbus."He dumped it down on some trees and that acted like a bed," Bratton said.State Highway Patrol troopers said Sandusky post Lt. Darryl Edge told them not to release the occupant's names because FAA inspector Thomas Leahy told them not to release any information.Leahy said his agency does not release names, and he suggested talking to local law enforcement to obtain such information.Fire, police and rescue crews met late Thursday evening at the airport to discuss how to retrieve the plane from the thick woods.Before going into the meeting, Bratton said crews may leave the wreckage in the field overnight and remove the collapsed plane after daybreak.Register photo/CHARLES YESENCZKI Firemen work to douse leaking fuel to prevent the downed plane from catching fire in Port Clinton on Thursday, June 3. The plane crashed just outside of the Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport. The two men aboard walked away from the crash. June 3, 2010