Plane clips power line, crashes into cotton field

A pilot walked away with minor injuries Wednesday afternoon after his single-engine spray plane clipped a power line and crashed into a Roosevelt County cotton field, according to police.

Bill Byrd, a cropduster with King Ag Aviation in Sudan, Texas, was spraying Roosevelt County farmer Robert Ledbetter's cotton east of Portales. The plane landed upright.

Johnny King, owner of King Ag Aviation, said Byrd has bruises from the seat belts but is OK.

Christina Calloway: Portales News-Tribune

Roosevelt County Emergency Management officials inspect a cropdusting plane that crashed Wednesday afternoon in a Roosevelt County cotton field. The pilot of the plane walked away with minor injuries.

"The airplane is replaceable, the pilot isn't," King said. "On field entry, he just didn't see the top wire and it caught his wheel."

According to Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Malin Parker, the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an official investigation Thursday.

The accident, which caused a six-minute power outage in parts of Portales, affected 5,792 Xcel Energy customers, according to company spokesman Wes Reeves

Byrd, who King said is in his 60s, has been flying for King Ag Aviation since March.

"He's been a good pilot," King said. "He just missed that one little wire."

The plane remained in Ledbetter's field as of Wednesday night and Parker said it won't be moved until the FAA completes its investigation.

King says plane crashes are uncommon, making Wednesday's the third one since opening King Ag Aviation in 1979.

"We were just trying to do our job and its a hazardous business," King said. "The airplanes are built now to take a crash and protect the pilot."

Ledbetter said he was near Taos when the crash happened.

"I'm just glad that everybody's OK," Ledbetter said. "Cropdusters are close to the ground most of the time."