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Flight instructor, student uninjured after small plane crash lands in Okotoks

An RCMP officer is seen walking near the site of a small airplane crash in Okotoks, Alta., on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019. Butch Karch

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) said officials are gathering information regarding a small plane that crashed in Okotoks, Alta., on Thursday morning.

According to TSB officials, a pilot instructor at a flying school in the area and a student were heading out for a training flight when the incident happened.

The plane, a Piper PA-28, had an issue taking off and the duo was forced to land directly ahead in a field, the TSB said. The TSB said it could not give details on the exact issue the pair encountered.

Neither the instructor or the student were injured.

A small airplane is seen nose-down in an Okotoks field following a crash landing. Butch Karch

As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, the TSB wasn’t planning to send a crew to the scene, but investigators were gathering information through the various parties involved, including the instructor and student, the flight school, police and any possible witnesses.

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RCMP said officers were called at about 11 a.m. to an airplane crash just north of the runway at Okotoks Air Ranch Airport.

“The rear wheels of the aircraft clipped a fence adjacent to a farmer’s field upon take-off,” Cpl. Laurel Scott said in a news release.

Photos sent to Global News from Okotoks residents showed a small blue-and-white airplane sitting nose-down in a field. The residents said the plane crashed at the Okotoks Air Ranch Airport.

A small airplane is seen nose-down in an Okotoks field following a crash landing on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019. Elwira Watkins

The Okotoks Fire Department, EMS and Okotoks Municipal Enforcement also responded to the crash, RCMP said.

The TSB could not say which flight school the student and instructor were affiliated with.

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