State Police investigating forced landing of plane in Weyers Cave

UPDATE (May 23):

Investigators with Virginia State Police are looking into the forced landing of a plane outside of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport on Tuesday.

According to Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for State Police, officers were called to the scene in Augusta County at 10:55 a.m., where it was confirmed that neither the pilot, a 24-year-old Rockingham County man, nor the co-pilot, were injured.

The two had been flying a single-engine Piper Arrow, which had taken off from Weyers Cave on its way to Farmville when the aircraft experienced engine problems.

The pilot attempted to return to the airport, but realized they would not make it back. Instead, he made a forced landing in an open field along Craig Shop Road in Weyers Cave.

The plane only suffered minor damage and no one on the ground was injured. Two nearby farmers responded to the scene of the crash very quickly after they saw the plane coming in too low.

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Two people are thankfully alright after the plane they were flying went down just outside of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Sgt. Sean Simmons, with Virginia State Police, the plane suffered a power failure and a flight instructor from Blue Ridge Aviation maintained control of the craft to crash land it before it could return to the airport where it had departed from.

Farmers nearby saw the plane coming in too low and told WHSV they were startled to see it come close to a power line on the way down.

The propeller was bent and landing gear was damaged on one side when the plane hit the ground in a field at 12:46 p.m. No pieces were broken off of the craft.

The flight instructor and his student were uninjured.

The instructor would not provide his account of what happened in the flight.