No one was injured Friday evening when a Pendleton pilot had to make an emergency landing prior to reaching the Pendleton Airport.
Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office responded around 7:30 p.m. to a report of an aircraft making an emergency landing about four or five miles west of the airport. Also responding were the Oregon State Police and Pendleton Fire and Ambulance.
According to the sheriff’s office, Harold Eugene Nelson, 81, who had been flying since he was 15, relayed that he was cruising along when the engine “started to run rough.”
For safety reasons, he decided to make a pre-emptive landing prior to reaching the airport. The plane, a Cessna 172 Skyhawk, safely landed in a field along Yoakum Road, about a mile south of Interstate 84.
There was no damage to the plane and no there were no injuries from the incident. Notifications were made to the FAA and NTSB.
Since it was getting dark, Nelson decided to leave the plane overnight, and it was recovered Saturday morning.
