Crop busting

Editor's note: This story by reporter Sasha Goldstein first appeared in theday.com Wednesday, July 11, 2012.

North Stonington — Neighbors said a single-engine plane plowed through 300 yards of a cornfield and spun around Wednesday evening after it crash-landed off Clarks Falls Road.

Neither the pilot of the Cessna 180, Andrew M. Sterns, nor his passenger, Jee Won Kim, appeared seriously injured. The two were walking around after the 7:17 p.m. crash and seemed slightly dazed but otherwise uninjured.

Sterns, 45, contacted air traffic controllers when the plane ran out of fuel and alarms started ringing in the cockpit, said Kim, 47, at the scene.

Sterns decided he wouldn't make it to Westerly, the closest airstrip, and chose to attempt to land in the cornfield instead, Kim said.

The plane had left Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and was headed to the regional airport in New Bedford, Mass.

According to the plane's registration with the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane is based out of Anchorage, Alaska. No owner is listed, and it appears the plane has recently been sold.

Sterns was taken by North Stonington Ambulance to The Westerly Hospital as a precaution, and Kim accompanied him, according to North Stonington Fire Chief Charles Steinhart. Sterns was treated for a minor head injury and released from the hospital, state police said.

Rebecca Cleveland, who lives directly across from the field at 214 Clarks Falls Road, said she didn't realize the plane had crashed until she came outside and saw the tail of the plane sticking out in the field.