An off-duty Durham County Sheriff's Deputy is still in critical condition tonight after crashing his plane on Interstate 85 on Friday evening.

Rick Fuller was trying to land at the Lake Ridge Airfield around 7 p.m. Friday when his 1947 Piper J3-Cub single engine airplane crashed just a few hundred feet from the grass runway.

The crash has gotten the attention of a lot of people who fly in and out of the airfield.

"From last I heard, he's improving," said co-owner Randy Smith. "Hopefully, we'll hope and pray that he continues to do so."

Fuller and Smith have owned the airfield with another friend for 11 years, and Fuller is well known by the dozens of people who use it every week.

"He's a superior pilot," said Ron Cheatham, a pilot who's been flying at Lake Ridge for about three years. "He's just been a real friend to the whole airport out here."

Saturday's weekly cookout at the airfield was a little subdued, while pilots and their families ponder what could have happened.

"If there is a positive side to accidents, it's that you can learn from them, and that's what pilots do," said Smith.

Cheatham agreed, saying, "Whatever happened, if we can learn something from it to make us safer pilots, we want to know about that too."

While they're all worried, most of the pilots say they won't let the crash keep them from taking off again soon.

"Aviation is inherently safe," said Smith. "A lot of people are afraid to fly, but most people are afraid of things because they don't understand it."

Fuller is being treated at UNC Hospital.

The FAA is still investigating the crash, and has yet to say what may have been the cause.