Plane makes emergency landing near Grove Field

A pilot and his passenger escaped injury Friday when their small plane completed an emergency landing in a corn field west of Grove Field Airport north of Camas.

At 11:57 a.m., emergency personnel responded to the aircraft, which was down at Northeast 252nd Avenue and Fifth Street. The pilot, David Holt, 70, of Port Ludlow, Wash., had been in contact with the Portland control tower and advised that his 1954 Beechcraft airplane was having engine trouble and he would be attempting an emergency landing.

When emergency crews arrived, Holt and his passenger, wife Susan Holt, 66, were up and walking around the grounded aircraft. Neither were injured in the landing.

David Holt told responders that they were flying from Port Ludlow to Bend, Ore., when the plane’s engine began to lose power. Holt attempted to fly into Grove field to land, but without adequate power he opted to put the plane down in the cornfield.

Holt said he elected to belly land the plane. He didn’t extend the aircraft landing gear, fearing the plane’s wheels might catch in the corn furrows.

The FAA was on scene conducting an investigation prior to the plane’s removal from the corn field.