Plane crash in St. Joseph County

The Three Rivers Fire Department says a plane has crashed on the St. Joseph River.

[Gary Caron]

It is distressing to hear your report say the plane "fell" out of the sky onto the ice. I am a pilot and it is more likely that the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on the ice. Pilots are trained to perform emergency landings and are under control during the manouver. It is probabaly not accurate to say the plane fell onto the ice. That would indicate the aircraft was not in control at the time. An aircraft falling onto the ice out of control would likely have broken through the ice.

[pilot]

Gary Caron wrote:

It is distressing to hear your report say the plane "fell" out of the sky onto the ice. I am a pilot and it is more likely that the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on the ice. Pilots are trained to perform emergency landings and are under control during the manouver. It is probabaly not accurate to say the plane fell onto the ice. That would indicate the aircraft was not in control at the time. An aircraft falling onto the ice out of control would likely have broken through the ice.

agreed. it irks me to no end how clueless reporters are when it comes to aviation topics. btw, this was a beech bonanza (not a cessna as some news sites are reporting) and it made a forced landing because of icing. it was bound for the three rivers airport from brownsville tx by way of branson, missouri. pilot and passenger (a father and son) and a dog were all OK.