Plane crash kills four after pilot suffers heart attack

GUTHRIE CENTER, Iowa — A small plane crashed in central Iowa, killing all four people on board, after the pilot apparently had a heart attack and a student pilot was going to attempt an emergency landing, authorities said Saturday.

The plane dropped off radar Friday night about 4 miles from Guthrie Center airport, the Guthrie County Sheriff ’s Office said in a news release.

Searchers found the wreckage Saturday morning in a cow pasture southwest of Guthrie Center, which is about 115 miles southwest of Le Mars, where the plane had taken off.

The 1979 Piper single-engine plane was headed to Osceola, south of Des Moines, when the Des Moines Air Traffic Control requested an emergency landing for it at the Guthrie Center airport, the sheriff ’s office said.