An Alden man is dead after a plane crash in Iowa Falls on Thursday afternoon. Iowa Falls police have identified the victim as 74-year-old Henry Klemme.

Klemme was attempting to land what’s commonly known as a “kit” airplane at the Iowa Falls Municipal Airport runway early Thursday afternoon, but it crashed into a soybean field a few dozen yards short of the strip. Witnesses tell authorities that it sounded like the plane’s engine had died, and then they saw the plane dive nose-first into the field.

Emergency crews found the plane engulfed in flames when they arrived at the crash scene. The Iowa Falls police chief says the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene and likely died immediately upon impact.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City