2 safe after small plane crashes in Minn. field

St. Louis County authorities say the pilot and passenger of a small airplane have survived an emergency landing after their cockpit filled with smoke.

Pilot James Chuk of Chisholm told deputies the smoke filled the plane after an apparent engine failure Friday afternoon. He says he made an emergency landing in a farm field in Clinton Township, about 10 miles east of Hibbing. The plane crashed into a barbed-wire fence and flipped over.

The 59-year-old Chuk wasn't hurt. His passenger, 39-year-old Christian Werdier of Keewatin, suffered a minor cut as he got out of the plane.

The sheriff's office says the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified and will investigate.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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