Pilot OK after jumping from small plane over Monroe County

A pilot was unhurt after he reportedly parachuted from a small plane that was having engine trouble over southern Monroe County Tuesday afternoon.

The 19-year-old pilot was walking and speaking with emergency responders at the intersection of Bluff Road and Kidd Lake Road near Fults shortly after 6 p.m. The crashed plane, which appeared to be a small Cessna, was visible behind a nearby treeline.

The pilot bailed out of the plane shortly before 3 p.m. He declined an interview at the scene.

According to Monroe County Sheriff Neil Rohlfing, the pilot took off from Festus Airport in the plane that’s run by Fly Free Skydiving but began having engine difficulty. Rohlfing said the pilot communicated with a mechanic in Festus who told him the problem with the plane was not fixable and he should eject.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s aircraft registry, the plane’s registration number N2764G belongs to a single-engine Cessna 182 that was built in 1959 and is owned by Cook Aviation, LLC in St. Louis. The plane’s registration was renewed in February.

The search for the crashed plane lasted over two hours and involved firefighters from Maeystown, Valmeyer and Prairie du Rocher. A St. Louis County Police Department helicopter eventually located the wreckage.

This is the second time in just over a year that a plane from Fly Free Skydiving ditched over Monroe County. On June 14, 2014, a 21-year-old pilot of a Cessna 182 was forced to ditch a plane near Valmeyer when the last of four skydivers’ parachutes snagged on the plane’s tail. The pilot, Shawn Kinmartin, parachuted to safety and the plane crashed into a field near B and Bergen Road.

Return to BND.com for more on this developing story or read Wednesday’s print edition of the News-Democrat.

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Pilot OK after jumping from small plane over Monroe County."