AIRPLANE CRASHES AT SIKESTON AIRPORT

SIKESTON -- A Sikeston pilot walked away from an airplane crash Tuesday afternoon with only a few minor scratches.

Edward Boyd was attempting to land a rented Cessna 150 at the Sikeston Municipal Airport around 4:30 p.m., airport operator Perry Jolliff said. The plane stalled, landed in an open field about 100 yards west of the airport and flipped over. It was a total loss.

Boyd only had scratches on his nose and a scrape on his leg, Jolliff said. The pilot was able to walk back to the airport office.

Jolliff said it was the first accident near airport grounds since a crop duster crashed three years ago. The pilot walked away from that accident, too.

Jolliff declined to pinpoint the cause of Tuesday's crash.

"Maybe it was panic," he said. "The day before yesterday I was with another guy in that plane and it was fine. Who knows what happened."

Federal Aviation Administration investigators are attempting to find why the plane crashed.