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Air Grassland Flight 422 was a Boeing 737 which, 5 miles (8 km) from its landing spot, Engine 1 failed. Unable to reach the airport, the pilots flew the plane to a corn field. All 113 people aboard were rescued by nearby village people, and there were few serious injuries. No deaths were reported.
The accident came to be known as the "Corn Field Plane". The Ministry of Transport rejected the notion that the pilot could have avoided crashing into the corn field by returning to Didue or diverting to nearby Usuwi Central Airport.
Accident[]
Takeoff[]
At 2:15 pm, Air Grassland 422 was cleared for takeoff at Didue International Airport. Wind was clear and it was a clear day. The pilot, Mikel Veran, said to the co-pilot "Great day today, isn't it?". The co-pilot responded with "Yes.".
Engine failure[]
13 minutes later, nearing Vernai, at 2:28 pm engine 1 had shut down. Veran says to the co-pilot, John Norl "Engine 1's gone". Veran contacts South Usuwi Airport with a mayday call. South Usuwi ATC responded with "You are approved as requested"
Emergency landing[]
Veran and Norl knew they were decreasing fast so they tried to pull up but it didn't. They tried to bank to see if the rudder could work. It did. They were also going too fast so they deployed the landing gear. They decided that they couldn't make it to South Usuwi and prepared to land in a field and also asked passengers to brace. They contacted South Usuwi ATC saying "We won't make it.". Now they are decreasing at a shorter rate and managed to pull up. Now they were decreasing at a much slower rate. at 2:37 pm, they landed in a corn field 5 miles north of the airport.