Plane Lands In Farmer’s Field Engine Trouble Forces Pilot To Make Emergency Landing

Engine trouble forced the pilot of a small plane into an emergency landing Tuesday afternoon in a Spokane Valley field, only a few feet from a farmer.

Waldo “Skip” Magnuson, Jr. and Russ Long were flying in Magnuson’s two-seat Cessna 140 over Liberty Lake about 1 p.m. when the engine started making loud clanging noises and lost power.

Magnuson, an instructor with 40 years’ flying experience, landed the crippled plane in a hay field near 16th Avenue and Barker Road.

Neither person was injured nor particularly shaken.

“He had it (under control) all the time,” said Long, 20, who is about to earn his pilot’s license.

Bud Morrison rumbled along in a swather, cutting the hay in his field when Magnuson alerted air traffic controllers he was in trouble.

The plane landed - undamaged - about 50 feet from Morrison.

“He let right down beside me,” Morrison said. “I think the reason probably was if they flipped it I’d be right there.”

Morrison called 911 on his cellular telephone and alerted searching sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and ambulance drivers.

Once Morrison saw Magnuson and Long walking around the grey-and-blue plane, he finished cutting the last small strip of hay in his field.

Magnuson and Long had taken off from Felts Field a few minutes earlier, planning to do some sight-seeing around Liberty Lake. The plane was cruising at about 3,500 feet when the engine trouble started.

Magnuson guided the plane over a ridge on the lake’s west side and radioed to the Felts Field tower that he would make an emergency landing about four miles from the lake.

On approach, Magnuson was forced to shut off the engine and float into Morrison’s field.

“This field looked as good as any,” Magnuson said.

The plane normally uses about 500 feet of runway to land. Magnuson estimated he needed about 1,000 feet Tuesday.

“We were a little fast on the landing,” Magnuson said.

But Long wasn’t worried.

“He did it just right,” Long said. “It could have been worse.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo