Pilot Reportedly Suffered An Apparent Heart Attack, Student Pilot Attempted To Land The Plane

A 1979 Piper Dakota went down Friday night resulting in the fatal injury of all four people on board, according to the Guthrie County, IA Sheriff's Office.

The newspaper The State reports that the GCSO said the airplane was being flown by 49-year-old Edward Ralph Anderson, who may have suffered a heart attack during the flight, which originated at Le Mars, IA. The plane went down in a cow pasture about 115 miles from Le Mars while a student pilot on board was attempting to make an emergency landing, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. Also fatally injured were 36-year-old Patrick Kellen and 15-year-old Samantha Clark, all of Le Mars, and 28-year-old Tyler Douvia, from Merrill, IA.

The news release did not specify which of the others was the student pilot attempting the emergency landing. The group was en route to Osceola, IA south of Des Moines for a hunting trip. Air traffic controllers approved an emergency landing for the plane at Guthrie Center Airport, according to the release.

Radar contact was lost with aircraft and it impacted terrain about four miles from Guthrie Center Airport, according to the release. The impact was "very hard," the release said.

FAA records indicate that the plane's registration was "pending" to a person living in Le Mars, IA.

(Images provided with Guthrie County Sheriff's Office news release)

FMI: Source report, FAA Registry Information