All Onboard Safe, Cancer Patient Makes It To Destination

A Cessna 210 Centurion operating as an Angel Flight made an emergency landing in a Minnesota field Wednesday, after the plane's pilot reported engine trouble.

KAAL-6 in Rochester reports the aircraft departed St. Paul's Holman Field (STO) Wednesday morning with three people onboard. Pilot Robin Blakkolb was transporting a cancer patient, identified as Kathryn, and another passenger to Waukegan, IL, where Kathryn was due to undergo treatment.

The plane experienced engine problems over the town of Lake Elmo, however, forcing Blakkolb to put the plane down in a frozen soybean field. "The altitude and engine loss occurred in an area where this field was his best option," said FAA spokesman Kevin Morris.

By all indications, the field provided an excellent landing spot for the plane... as its frozen surface provided a relatively smooth landing zone. Photos from the scene show no apparent damage to the aircraft -- there's no FAA prelim on the incident, either -- and the field appears long enough for the plane to take off from once the problem is repaired.

Most importantly, all three people onboard the Centurion came through the incident without a scratch.

A nearby resident allowed Blakkolb and his passengers to stay in her home overnight, KAAL reports, and even them to the airport the next morning -- where Kathryn caught another flight to Waukegan.

Blakkolb has flown over 25 charity missions for Angel Flight Central since 2002, according to the organization's executive director, Christel Gollnick.

"Landing in a snowy field in the middle of winter with an engine problem is always a challenge," Gollnick said. "Our volunteer pilot did just a fantastic job of following safety procedures and making a safe landing that everybody could walk away from."

FMI: www.faa.gov