Florida Crop-Duster Crashes Into Fayette County Cornfield

It’s that time of year when we see the planes and helicopters flying over the fields giving crops a boost as we start to head towards harvest. But with these areal sprayers, there is always the possibility that an accident can happen.

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This is unfortunately what happened on Friday in Northeast Iowa.

At around 11 AM, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office was called when a crop duster helicopter had gone down in the field after slipping a power line.

Upon arrival, Deputies found the crop duster was a 2006 Robinson R44 that was being flown by Nicholas Jerell of Florida. He was flying by near M Ave. and 130th Street just outside of Fayette when he clipped a power line going across a corn field.

A release from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office says Jerell was able to control the helicopter for a quick descent where he landed in a corn field. There were no injuries reported from the quick landing, however, the helicopter itself did sustain disabling damage.

Arrangements did have to be made to have the aircraft hoisted up and transported from the scene.

This was a much better outcome than what could have happened.

For example, just over a week ago in Western Iowa, crews responded to a report of an airplane crash just south of Ute. Upon arrival, crews found a crop-dusting plane on the roadway on fire.

Just like in Fayette, the plane had hit powerlines before the crash. Unfortunately, the pilot did not survive the accident.