Aircraft Emergency Landing

On August 2, 2018 at approximately 10:40 a.m. the Stearns County 911 Center received a report of an aircraft down in a corn field located in Luxemburg Township approximately 3 miles north of Watkins. The reporting parties indicated that they could see the tail of the aircraft sticking out of the standing corn. Watkins Fire and Rescue along with Watkins Ambulance were dispatched to the scene. Officers arrived on scene and found the pilot, Jonathan Aslesen, 21 from Buffalo MN, was uninjured. Jonathan subsequently denied medical treatment. Aslesen stated that he experienced a mechanical problem with the engine and the engine stalled while preparing to complete a crop dusting pass on the field. Aslesen reported that he was forced to do an emergency landing in the cornfield. The aircraft experienced light damage having remained upright until coming to rest on the nose of the aircraft. There was damage to a small amount of standing corn owned by Westlund Dairy, Watkins Mn. The aircraft is owned by Classic Arrow Inc, located in Buffalo, MN. which does crop dusting in central Minnesota. The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office along with the FAA are investigating the incident.