Fittipaldi in plane crash

Former racing champion Emerson Fittipaldi fractured his lower back in an ultralight plane crash and escaped death only because…

Former racing champion Emerson Fittipaldi fractured his lower back in an ultralight plane crash and escaped death only because it fell in a swamp. The 50-year-old Brazilian and his six-year-old son Luca, the only two people on the ultralight plane, were rescued early yesterday.

Dr Luiz Roberto Neves, the hospital's clinical director, said Fittipaldi had told doctors the motor stalled and the ultralight crashed into a swamp from a height of about 300 feet.

Fittipaldi and his son took off on Sunday morning from the Fittipaldi citrus farm in Araraquara, where he grows 750,000 orange trees.