Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Stearns County Cornfield

WATKINS -- A Buffalo man is okay after making an emergency landing in a cornfield.

Stearns County Chief Deputy Sheriff Bob Dickhaus says they got a call at about 10:40 a.m. Thursday from a witness who spotted the tail section of the airplane in the field about three miles north of Watkins.

Deputies found 21-year-old Jonathan Aslesen by his plane waiting for help to arrive. He says there was a mechanical issue with his plane when he had to put it down in the field. He was working doing some crop dusting at the time of the incident.

There was minor damage to the plane and to the corn.

The plane is owned by Classic Arrow Inc. in Buffalo.  The field is owned by Westlund Dairy in Watkins.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office, Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.