Plane with 3 aboard crash-lands near Madras Airport

(Update: Adding video, comments by pasture owner)

A small plane with three women aboard, including a student pilot and instructor, lost power as it approached Madras Airport Monday afternoon and made a forced landing in a cow pasture but was unable to stop before skidding through a fence, across a road and into an embankment, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said.

The crash was reported just before 1 p.m. near the intersection of Northwest Glass Drive and Birch Lane, just south of the airport. Federal Aviation Administration regional spokesman Allen Kenitzer confirmed three people were aboard the Cessna 172 that came down in a field.

Adkins said the plane, on a flight from Sisters with the Outlaw Aviation Club, lost power on final approach to the Madras Airport, forcing the instructor to land in a cow pasture about 3/4 of a mile south of the runway. But the pilot was unable to stop the plane before it went through a fence, skidded across Birch Lane and came to rest against another wire fence, in a shallow embankment.

“They are fine,” the sheriff said of the three occupants. “Nobody’s hurt bad. There’s some strained back and neck muscles.”

Jefferson County Fire District officials said the single-engine plane came to rest under power lines on the north side of Birch Lane, nosed into a slight embankment and intact except for the nose gear. All three occupants got out on their own.

Fire crews worked with airport staff to power down the plane and stop a small overflow fuel leak from the left-wing tank, officials said, adding that there was no damage to the power lines.

Adkins said the flight instructor was still on the scene, while the plane’s other two occupants were taken on a non-emergency basis to St. Charles Madras for evaluation.

The instructor is “former military,” Adkins said. “She’s a cool cucumber.”

FAA records show the plane is owned by Outlaw Aviation LLC and was built in 1965.

Deputies secured the scene for an investigation by the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board and later moved the plane to a hangar.

In a Facebook posting, Adkins said, “Speaking as a pilot, the flight Instructor and student pilot did an excellent job landing the plane in the pasture and preventing injury and further property damage.”

The owner of the field, Madras rancher Tom Anderson, recalled it this way:

“So they landed out in the middle of my cow pasture and then jumped the highway – went through the fence. And of course, the cows were pretty excited. They thought it was something more to play with. “

“I got a bunch of phone calls from the neighbors and police to come up and I had a fence busted, so they held the cows back, and we repaired the fence. My grandsons helped me.”

“I told the instructor pilot that i was so thankful that she wasn’t hurt. And nobody was hurt. They walked away. So that was a good thing – that’s a blessing,” Anderson said.