UPDATE: July 21 at 6:30 p.m.
A pilot and passenger walked away uninjured after making an emergency landing in Jessamine County field when their small plane experienced engine trouble.
"Ma'am, I'll be declaring an emergency. My engine is almost quit," the pilot radioed to Air Traffic Control shortly before the landing.
As a result, the Cessna Super Skyline landed in a farm field off Keene Versailles Road.
"My engine has gone to idle. I'm looking for a field," the pilot told ATC.
Eduardo Ortiz witnessed the plane coming down unusually low.
"Yeah, it was pretty crazy, um, honestly, I never seen like a plane that low. I mean, honestly when I saw it I thought it was something wrong," Ortiz said.
"Obviously hear it coming down it's pretty pretty crazy kind of scary too, you know, because you're fearing for the people that are inside the plane as well," he added.
Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Grimes clarified that this incident is an off-field landing.
"I don't know that we really call this a crash, it was really more of an emergency landing that the damage that he sustained was something on the ground. So it wasn't like he crashed the airplane," Grimes said. "He actually did a heck of a job in being able to get that plane down in this field."
Both people aboard the plane escaped without injuries. A Lexington Police helicopter quickly located the aircraft, though ground responders faced challenges reaching it.
"They were sending us drops on their phones and locations, but again that drops in the middle of the field and so we're the driveways and so when you're looking at Google Maps, you're, OK, well this looks like a driveway here, but there's not a driveway to where plane is," Grimes said.
"Logistically, this was a nightmare," he added.
The pilot told responders he was traveling to the Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin. While they won't complete their journey now, the most important outcome was their safety.
"He's okay and that's the important thing. He's gonna walk away from this," Grimes said.
Ortiz reflected on what the pilot must have experienced during the emergency.
"Honestly, I wouldn't even know what to do. I would be in shock. I mean, a lot of things will be probably going through my mind at the moment. I can't imagine how the pilot feels right now," Ortiz said.
Original Story:
LEX 18 on the scene reported that a plane had to make an emergency landing on Keene Versailles Road in Jessamine County following engine trouble on Monday morning.
According to flight tracking websites, a single engine aircraft took off from North Carolina just before 6:40 a.m. Authorities reported that the aircraft landed in the 4500 block of Keene Versailles Road, a few hours later.
Air1 reportedly located the plane in the air and the Jessamine County Sheriff's Office and the Versailles Police Department were able to then locate the plane on the ground, authorities reported.
LEX 18 confirmed that the pilot was not injured in the emergency landing.
This is a developing story and LEX 18 will have more information as it becomes available.
