Pilot error may have contributed to the crash of an airplane Friday evening northwest of Griswold. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says that conclusion comes from the people who watched as the pilot, 76-year old Elimar Sudmann of Atlantic, tried to land the plane.

“What they said was..that he was coming around, maybe coming in too fast, was gonna pull it up and then make another pass around there, probably going too slow and then it just basically dropped and hit the ground,” Danker says. He says that’s indicative of an engine stall.

After the nose of the plane dug into the soybean field, the aircraft flipped over, landing on its top facing north.

The accident happened at around 8:30 p.m Friday.

Danker says Sudmann, and a passenger in the 1976 Cessna 172-M, 59-year old Delbert Thurman, of rural Atlantic, suffered non-life threatening injuries, and were transported by Griswold Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital for treatment.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic