Small plane crashes in eastern Ind. open field

INDIANAPOLIS – A small, single-engine plane crashed into an open field in eastern Indiana on Wednesday after the pilot became unresponsive and the plane started to speed up and slow down at dangerous speeds, officials said.

The pilot might have had a health problem or was suffering from a lack of oxygen, officials said.

Military officials do not believe the crash was terrorism-related, said Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command. Instead, the pilot might have blacked out as a result of a condition known as hypoxia, he said.

The defense command said the flight left Grand Rapids, Mich., and lost communication with ground air traffic controllers. The Web site flightaware.com listed the flight’s destination as Muncie.

The plane crashed about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday into a field in a rural area of eastern Indiana, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis and 185 miles south of Grand Rapids, Mich., the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.

John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, said F-16s from the Indiana National Guard had intercepted the plane but that the aircraft crashed on its own.

Officials would not comment on the condition of the pilot.

Controllers in Indianapolis reported the plane had been circling with the pilot slumped over in his seat at around 25,000 feet, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the pilot intentionally flew to that altitude, then passed out, or if the plane ascended after the pilot lost consciousness, he said.

The plane was a single-engine propeller M20M Mooney, and it had about four hours of fuel left when officials noticed the problems, said Kucharek.