One Dead in Latest Iowa Airplane and Power Line Crash

A deadly plane crash near Corning, Iowa, is under intense investigation by the Iowa State Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration.

The Iowa State Patrol reports a plane with a single person on board took off from the Adams County airport at approximately 12:38 p.m. Monday.

It's said that the aircraft hit a power line shortly after taking off, and the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim's name is being withheld until further notice.

Although small-aircraft accidents remain statistically rare nationally, they are more frequent than commercial airline deaths. For example, 2019 saw 1,220 accidents resulting in 233 casualties. Conversely, 40 commercial airline accidents happened in 2019 and including 2 fatalities.

The State of Alaska holds the regrettable title for fatal small-aircraft accidents. At the same time, Iowa has had its share of infamous airplane-related deaths.

On July 19, 1989, United Flight 232 made a routine departure from Denver's Stapleton Airport for Chicago's O'Hare International when it made a crash landing in Sioux City, Iowa.

A disastrous failure of the plane's tail-mounted engine resulted from a manufacturing defect in the engine's fan disk, causing the loss of several flight controls. 296 passengers and crew were on board, with 112 dying due to the accident. Although 184 people survived the fatal flight, it remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in the history of United Airlines.

Perhaps no plane crash in Iowa is as infamous as the one occurring on February 3, 1959. The accident took the lives of rock and roll music stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson.

Shortly after performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to avoid a long bus ride on a cold February Iowa night. Sadly the pilot lost control of the small aircraft and crashed in a nearby cornfield taking the lives of all four on board. The event would become widely recognized as "The Day the Music Died" after it was immortalized by singer-songwriter Don McLean in his 1971 hit song "American Pie."