Two men escaped serious injury when the small airplane they were in crashed Monday afternoon just off Route 901 in Barry Township, near the Foster Township line.

The crash occurred at 2:10 p.m., less than a mile from the junction with Interstate 81. John Ruble of Allentown said he was flying the 1978 Cessna P210 aircraft from Allentown to Ohio when he experienced engine trouble.Ruble said that he initially tried to land at Schuylkill County Joe Zerbey Airport a short distance away but quickly realized the plane would not make it that far without power."The engine failed, and I knew I couldn't make the airport," he said. "That's when I saw the highway and decided to put it down there."While flying west, the plane struck the tops of several trees in Foster Township before landing on Route 901 and skidding into a wooded area just off the roadway.Ruble suffered minor injuries while his passenger, Gregory H. Gulick of Bethlehem, was not hurt. Both men said they feel lucky not only to have escaped serious injury but, more importantly, not being killed."Maybe I should play the lottery today," Ruble said while standing along Route 901, looking at the wreckage of the plane he had been piloting.Foster Township Police Chief James Nettles was at the scene coordinating the investigation efforts with the Federal Aviation Administration, the government agency that investigates all airplane crashes.Nettles said that at the direction of the FAA, the plane, N4796P, will be placed on a flatbed trailer and taken to nearby Zerbey Airport, where it will be secured until it can be examined by FAA investigators. Both men inside the plane at the time of the crash refused medical treatment, emergency personnel at the scene said.A representative at the FAA office based at the Harrisburg airport said Monday the investigations into such crashes are normally handled by Flight Standards District offices, one of which is based in Allentown.The representative, however, said that normally no comment is made on such an incident until the investigation is complete.Assisting at the scene were Branch-Reilly Police and state police troopers from the Frackville station, along with firefighters from Minersville, South Cass and Mount Pleasant as well as Minersville EMS.