Mechanical failure combined with poor weather may explain why a plane crashed early Monday in the northern Minnesota city of Clearbrook, Minn., authorities said.
Authorities investigate plane crash in northern Minnesota
The condition of the pilot was not immediately known, authorities said.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 30, 2024 at 1:07PM
First responders found the pilot and lone occupant of the single-engine Cessna 172 outside the plane when they arrived on the scene about 1:30 a.m., said Ryan Solee, chief of the Clearbrook-Gonvick Police Department.
The pilot, whose name has not been released, was airlifted to a hospital in Fargo, N.D. The pilot’s condition was not immediately available, Solee said.
The aircraft had departed Stanley, N.D. about 9:30 p.m. Sunday and was bound for Bemidji, according to the flight tracking website Flightaware.com.
The plane, registered to Bemidji Aviation, crashed under “unknown circumstances” near a road and a retaining wall, the FAA said.
Early indications are the pilot experienced a mechanical failure prior to the crash, Solee said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Clearbrook is about two hours northeast of the Fargo-Moorhead area.
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