Airplane crashes in field near DeKalb with 2 onboard
CORTLAND, Ill. (CBS) -- An airplane with two people on board crashed in a field in Cortland, Illinois, near DeKalb on Thursday.
In a statement, the FAA said the plane, a single-engine Cessna 177, crashed around 12:30 p.m. near the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport. The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened in a field behind a business at 260 W. Lincoln Hwy in Cortland.
The small plane was seen in the field lying at an angle and its nose in the ground. Two men - Pilot Drew Benet Meyer, 34, of Evansville, Indiana, and passenger Bennett S. Hatfield, 33, of Whitestown, Indiana who were in the plane were injured and were taken to Northwestern Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, according to the sheriff's office. The men were up and talking but it's not clear how serious their injuries were.
"It's pretty much front-end landed," said Mark Hedrick, assistant chief of the Cortland Fire Department. "It kind of twisted. The cockpit is kind of twisted from the rest of it."
The plane appeared to have sustained significant damage. Part of its right wing had broken off. The aircraft also seemed to have left a trail in the field from when it crashed.
According to Flight Aware, the plane took off shortly after 10 a.m. from Evansville, Ind., en route to the airport in DeKalb. According to the FAA, the plane is registered with the EVV Pilots Club in Evansville.
CBS 2 was told the pilot issued a mayday, but it was too late.
"They were conscious," Hedrick said. "Besides that, we don't know what other injures they had."
Hedrick added that when a plane lands in a field, "you know that's not great, especially with how hard the ground is right now."
In a statement, the FAA said the plane, a single-engine Cessna 177 crashed around 12:30 p.m. near the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, the FAA said.
