Aircraft Belongs To Indian Hills Community College

An airplane that went down during a checkride was found abandoned in a field southeast of Oskaloosa, IA on Friday.

The Oskaloosa Herald newspaper reports that, according to Indian Hills Community College president Dr, Marlene Sprouse, the student pilot, who was not identified, had been accompanied by an FAA examiner and was testing for a particular certificate. The plane, a Piper PA-28-161 according to FAA records, lost power during the checkride, and went down in the field. Sprouse said she had talked to the program director of the Associate Applied Science Degree in Aviation Pilot Training, who confirmed the incident. They had not had time to go back and examine the airplane, she said.

Mahaska County Sheriff Russell Van Renterghem said that the plane was found by a citizen and called into the Sheriff's Office. It had departed from Ottumwa Regional Airport on Thursday afternoon with the student in the left seat. It reportedly experienced an engine failure shortly after takeoff, and the examiner took control of the airplane and made an off-airport landing in the bean field where it was located. Neither occupant was seriously injured in the incident.

The aircraft was transported to Oskaloosa Municipal Airport for repairs. It will be returned to the college in Ottumwa when repairs are completed.

(Image from file. Not incident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov