A crop dusting plane crashed Monday near Dunn when it clipped a power line near a home and spiraled into some trees, according to a report from Troop G of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Willow Springs.
The pilot, Lloyd R. Darter, 68, Mountain Grove, was flown by Air Evac to a St. John’s Hospital in Springfield with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.
According to highway patrolmen, the crash scene is across the highway from the old drive-in theater, a few yards north of old U.S. 60.
The plane was a 1965 Piper Shawnee and was carrying 100 pounds of liquid fertilizer. It is not believed that the fertilizer is an environmental threat, but the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Federal Aviation Agency are investigating, according to lawmen.
The plane took off from Mountain Grove, where Darter is a crop duster and flight instructor. Darter was making a low banking turn to dust a field when the plane clipped the power line before crashing some 30 yards from the home, the patrol said.