Guthrie Center, Iowa — An airplane that departed from the Le Mars airport on Friday night has crashed near Guthrie Center in west-central Iowa, killing all four passengers.
The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports that authorities found the wreckage about 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning southwest of Guthrie Center. Guthrie Center is about 40 miles west of Des Moines, or 35 miles southeast of Carroll.
Authorities say that there were three men and one 16-year-old girl on board, who were reportedly on their way to a hunting trip in Osceola, Iowa. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports that Des Moines Air Traffic Control called them shortly after 5 p.m. on Friday, and told them that the pilot had suffered a heart attack and that a student pilot was going to attempt to land the plane at the Guthrie Center Airport. The plane never arrived. Eleven public safety entities launched an extensive search. The plane was found by a citizen on Saturday morning in a pasture.
The victims have been identified as the pilot, 49-year-old Edward Ralph Anderson, 36-year-old Patrick Kellen, and 15-year-old Samantha Clark, all of Le Mars; and 28-year-old Tyler Douvia of Merrill.
The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA is going to conduct an investigation.
