Updated: Pilot injured in crop duster crash southeast of Huntingburg

John A. Layne, the pilot injured in the crash, was the former manager of the Putnam County Airport, served as both a pilot and general manager of Dixie Chopper Air as late as 2012. He left the local airport later that year to assume the crop-dusting position with Milhon.[hr]

Huntingburg — A pilot was severely injured when the crop dusting plane he was flying crashed Friday morning.

John A. Layne, 53, of Danville, IN, was severely injured in the crash currently being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to a pilot who was at the Huntingburg Airport when the crash occurred, he and another pilot observed the crop duster from the Huntingburg Airport while it was flying. He stated the plane went up and turned “really weird, it looked like it was going into a spin.”

At about 10:36, the Dubois County 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatch was notified that a plane had crashed on the southeast side of the Huntingburg Conservation Club lake after hitting Vectren power lines running along County Road 100W.

The Air Tractor AT-802A hit the power lines before it crashed on the shoreline of the lake. It has not been determined if hitting the power lines caused the crash or if the plane hit them while it was crashing.

On the scene the mangled remains of the craft wrapped around a tree. A 35- to 40-foot debris path inundated with the smell of airplane fuel led down to the lake. Parts of the broken plane floated along the shoreline. A gash in the dirt about 6-feet above the waterline signaled where some part of the plane hit the ground first before continuing up the property. The plane knocked down several saplings as it skidded up the bank before striking the large tree north of a nearby shelter house.

Emergency responders from Memorial Hospital and St. Henry stabilized Layne at the scene of the accident before transporting him to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter at the Huntingburg Airport. On Monday, St. Mary’s Medical Center reported Layne was in fair condition but still hospitalized.

View Huntingburg Conservation Club Crop Duster Crash in a larger map

Huntingburg Airport employees, Indiana State Police (some units arriving from firearms training), Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, Huntingburg Police Department, Huntingburg Energy Utility, Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services, and St. Henry Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene.

Vectren and Dubois REC also responded to repair three high tension power lines that were ripped down when the plane crashed.

Indiana State Police secured the scene on Friday until an investigator from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived later that afternoon.

The Huntingburg Conservation Club has closed access to the property until the site can be cleaned up properly. They are concerned that the chemicals and fuel the crop duster was carrying may have ran into the water of the lake with the weekend rains. The amounts spilled at the time of the accident have not been disclosed, however, the lake water is being tested for the contaminants and the property ownership is asking everyone to stay off the grounds until the water testing shows the water in the lake is safe. They are expecting those results by this Friday.

According to Air Tractor, Inc., the plane has a fuel capacity of up to 254 gallons and a chemical payload capacity of up to 800 gallons.

The aircraft belonged to Milhon Air, Inc., out of Martinsville, IN. According to other crop duster pilots, these planes travel at speeds up to 160 mph when applying chemicals to fields.