Man dies in plane

crash near Brownton

BROWNTON -- An unidentified adult male died in a plane crash 1 1/2 miles northeast of Brown Saturday night or early Sunday morning, according to authorities.

Ronald Sommerdorf of rural Brownton called the McLeod County Sheriff's office and reported the plane crash at 8:37 a.m. Sunday after he noticed the plane on his way to church Sunday.

"I saw it in a field, a half-mile from where I live," said Sommerdorf. "The engine was buried in the ground. None of it was showing. There was no evidence of a fire. It must have happened last night. We had a lot of lightning and about an inch of rain last night."

The sheriff's department including the posse, Glencoe Ambulance, Brownton First Responders and the Minnesota State Patrol responded to the crash in a bean field in Sumter Township, off 90th Street.

The plane was reported to be a 1977 Cessna 152, a fixed-wing, single-engine airplane, according to the sheriff's department.

An investigation is under way, involving the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Safety Transportation Board.

Positive identification of the pilot will be made following an autopsy report, according to the sheriff's department.

Crystal Schlosser, the county medical examiner, said the plane probably crashed before 2 a.m. because the ground underneath the wreckage was dry.

Sheriff Wayne Vinkemeier said markings in the field indicate the plane didn't nosedive, but apparently hit and bounced before coming to rest.

''Just by looking at the wreckage the way it is, it obviously was not a controlled crash. The airplane was out of control when it hit the ground,'' said Casey Heggerston, an inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Schlosser said the crash site was somewhat unusual because there was no fire and no fuel smell. She said that may indicate the pilot ran out of fuel and attempted to land.

The medical examiner said the pilot was believed to be in the military and in his early 20s, but he carried no identification. She said she planned to use fingerprints to confirm his identity.

This story was compiled from staff reports and the Associated Press.