An experienced pilot used quick thinking and years of experience to avert danger after his agricultural plane sputtered on Tuesday afternoon.

Sometime around noon, Scotts Bluff County authorities were notified of a plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in a sugar beet field near County Roads 27 and K, south of the Tri-State Canal.

KNEB News spoke to Sheriff Mark Overman, who explained what happened.

“We were informed this afternoon of a plane crash. When we got here, we discovered it was an agricultural plane. We spoke to the pilot, a very experienced top pilot, and he said he had a mechanical problem. He lost some pressure and could see oil leaking. So he tried to return to the airport and then he realized he wasn’t going to make it back to the airport. So he ditched the plane here.”

“And you have to say, he did a great job because he put it down. It looks like there was no damage to the plane. There was definitely no damage. And the mechanics were already here. They found a broken oil line that was leaking. We’ve done our investigation and there are no injuries. We’ve also contacted the National Transportation Safety Board. From what I understand, they don’t seem to have much interest in the matter, but they’d like to know about it, so we followed our protocol and notified them.”

According to Overman, airport staff on site were discussing how to get the agricultural aircraft back to the airport. Towing was also discussed at the beginning, but at the time of going to press the aircraft was still on the airfield.