Police reported that there were no survivors in an Indiana plane crash that occurred on Friday.
A small single-engine plane left Fort Dodge Regional Airport in Iowa at around 6:45 a.m. Central Time on Friday and was set to land at Anderson Municipal Airport, about an hour’s drive Northeast of Indianapolis, at around 10:00 a.m. Central Time.
But the plane ended up crashing into a nearby cornfield, said Captain Darwin Dwiggins of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a preliminary statement that “four people were on board” the plane, which was a Piper PA-46. None of the passengers survived the crash, according to Dwiggins.
In this photo provided by the East Madison Fire Territory, smoke rises from a cornfield in central Indiana after a plane taking off from Fort Dodge, Iowa, crashed en route to Anderson Municipal Airport on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. Police reported that there were no survivors in an Indiana plane that occurred on Friday.
Todd Harmeson/East Madison Fire Territory via AP
The plane came in at too high of an altitude on its initial approach to land.
“They were too high,” Dwiggins said. “They were told to reroute and make another approach.”
Witnesses said it looked like the pilot may have been attempting to turn back toward the airport before the plane crashed, according to Dwiggins.
Dwiggins said one witness “described it as flipping over and just nosediving into the cornfield and bursting into flames.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation into the crash. NTSB said the plane crashed “under unknown circumstances.”
Dwiggins expects it to be a “long process moving forward to clean up the wreckage and investigate the wreckage.”
Fort Dodge Regional Airport called the plane crash “tragic” in a statement.
“We can confirm that the aircraft involved in this incident was not based at our airport. However, the flight plan indicates that the aircraft took off from Fort Dodge Regional Airport at 6:48 a.m. this morning en route to Anderson, Indiana,” the airport said. “Our thoughts are with those onboard and their families during this difficult time. We are fully cooperating with authorities as they investigate the circumstances surrounding this incident.”
Meanwhile, last week, a single-engine plane was hit by a vehicle after making an emergency landing on a North Carolina highway.
On August 28, a Beech A35 landed on Interstate 840 after the plane “lost engine power,” according to the NTSB.
“The landing was completed safely with no damage to the airplane or injuries to the pilot or passenger. Both then exited the airplane, after which a vehicle struck the airplane, which then struck the passenger,” the NTSB said.
The victim was hospitalized with a minor injury, according to police. The driver of the car was not injured in the accident.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
