The skies weren’t so friendly for some East Tennessee residents last week after their plane had mechanical issues and made an emergency landing in a rural hayfield near Temperance Hall. Both the pilot and a passenger were able to walk away from the crash.

According to DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray the single engine plane went down Sunday afternoon in an open field near Old Temperance Hall Road. “DeKalb Central Dispatch received a call from the Nashville Approach Air Traffic Control at 2:50 p.m. that stated a plane had gone down around the Old Temperance Hall Road area,” said Sheriff Ray. “DeKalb EMS, the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad, the DeKalb County Fire Department, and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department responded to the Old Temperance Hall Road address.”

“The pilot said he was flying in a 1966 Piper Cherokee 180 when it experiences engine failure. A witness on the ground, in the Old Temperance Hall Road area, observed that the plane appeared to be in distress, and he saw it go down. The witness reached the plane on a Side-By-Side and helped get the pilot and passenger out of the plane. He then helped bring emergency personnel to the scene and then returned them all to the roadway,” said Sheriff Ray.

According to the pilot, 61-year-old Eric Garrison of Powell, Tennessee, he filled up with fuel in Knoxville, flew to Nashville, and was on his way back to the Seymour Airport in East Tennessee when the plane went down in DeKalb County. Garrison received only a minor scrape to the forehead, while a passenger, 60-year-old Debbie Cook of Knoxville, was uninjured.

“We’re fortunate that someone wasn’t hurt in this incident,” Sheriff Ray said. “We want to thank the responding agencies that came to help, along with Central Dispatch.”