Local plane makes off-airport landing

A local, single-engine aircraft made an emergency landing Tuesday morning.

Gary Pride, airport manager, said the plane landed at about 10:55 a.m. Tuesday in a field about one mile west of the Poplar Bluff Regional Business Airport due to engine failure. Two people were on board at the time of the landing.

“The engine quit on the aircraft,” he said. “The pilot landed in the field because he couldn’t make the airport.”

Pilot Thomas Vorpe, of Poplar Bluff, and passenger Dustin Ramsey, of Texas, recently had departed from the airport in a 1959 Forney F-1, owned by Phyllis Leuckel of Van Buren.

Pride said they were staying in the area, and the aircraft’s fuel pump stopped working, which prompted Vorpe to land.

The aircraft, according to Pride, was for sale, and Vorpe was a perspective buyer taking it for a test fly.

Vorpe called airport administration after landing, Pride said.

Nobody was injured, and the plane wasn’t damaged during the landing.

Pride said there was no emergency and agencies, such as the sheriff’s office or fire department, did not need to respond.