Pilot uninjured when Cessna ends up in nearby farm field

PLANE OVERTURNS

By Caitlin Yamada, News Reporter
    HARLAN -- The pilot and only occupant of a small airplane walked away without injury when the plane he was piloting overturned in a field north of the Harlan Airport while attempting to land Wednesday morning, May 16.
    The pilot has not been identified.
    Airport Manager Olie Pash said “around 9-9:15 a.m. the airplane came in to land on our short grass runway and he had too much speed to land and he couldn’t get stopped.
    “He tried to get all the power for a go around and didn’t quite make it over the fence at the airport and he wound up in the neighbor’s corn field upside down.”
    According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Registry, the plane, a Cessna 120, is owned by Jim Kickland of Atlantic, but reports say it may have recently been sold.
    Jason Wickizer, Shelby County Emergency Management operations officer, said at 9:43 a.m. Shelby County Emergency Management/911 received the call about the plane down.
    “Responders located the aircraft in a field close to the Harlan Airport. The pilot, the sole occupant was uninjured and outside the aircraft when officials arrived at approximately 9:47 a.m.,” Wickizer said.
    Pash said he immediately contacted the proper authorities and had been on and off the phone with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and other authorities since.
    Owners of the land, Steve and Jerome Mumm, said they didn’t see what happened but they had heard something going on and decided to check it out.
    Pash and Wickizer both reported that investigators from the NTSB and the FAA were on their way to visit the scene.
    The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office also responded and was assisted by the Harlan Police Department, Harlan Fire Department, Medivac Ambulance/Rescue and Shelby County Emergency Management.

 
 

 

Harlan Newspapers

1114 7th Street
P.O. Box 721
Harlan, IA 51537-0721

(800) 909-6397
news2@harlanonline.com

Comment Here