A pilot survived a near disaster on Saturday afternoon by parachuting to safety when a single-engine Cessna crash-landed in a nearby hayfield — leaving six passengers still on the plane
Everyone survived.
After the crash in Bates County, Missouri, the passengers were treated on the scene and sent home.
Officials from the local sheriff's office later located the pilot at a nearby hangar. It wasn't immediately clear what he was thinking when he leaped from the plane without his passengers — and hot-footed it to the hangar.
"The plane is a total loss," the Bates County Sheriff's Office said in a statement shared on Facebook.
The incident is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
