Plane emergency landing

MIDLAND COUNTY An experimental plane made an emergency landing in a field east of Midland after losing oil pressure late Friday morning, Department of Public Safety and Midland International Airport officials said.

DPS communications officer Gilbert Villarreal said the plane, a 2003 Foxtrot owned by Patrick David Beasley of Pleasant Grove, Utah, took off from Midland International Airport and was heading to Baton Rouge, La. About 11:45 a.m., the pilot reported he was losing oil pressure in the engine and asked for air traffic control at Midland to clear him for an emergency landing.

Villarreal said the plane lost its engine power and could not make it back, so instead the pilot landed in a vacant field near U.S. Highway 80 and County Road 1160 east of Midland.

Villarreal and Midland International Airport operations agent Aaron Easton said the pilot was not injured in the landing. The Foxtrot was towed by the afternoon from the field to Midland Airpark.

Easton deferred to Basin Aviation, which is the fixed base operator for Midland Airpark for further information on the plane. Basin Aviation manager Lauri Winters was on a flight and could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

According to the website www.airport-data.com, the Foxtrot is a propeller-powered, single-engine, single-passenger plane.