2 From El Cajon Survive Air Crash

An El Cajon woman was injured when the experimental airplane in which she was flying collided with a car while making an emergency landing in Nebraska, authorities reported Monday.

The accident occurred at 10 p.m. CDT Sunday in western Douglas County, near the Missouri River.

Patricia Zeeb, 29, was treated at an Omaha hospital for minor cuts on her head, then released.

The pilot, James D. Newman, 35, also of El Cajon, and the driver of the car, Bonnie L. Stuto of Omaha, were unharmed, said Jeff Hanson, a Nebraska State Patrol spokesman.

The plane, headed to Oshkosh, Wis., was an experimental, single-engine aircraft. It was on its way to the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s annual convention, Hanson said.

He said Newman apparently had planned to stop at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield to refuel.

The plane was flying east when the engine “cut out,” forcing Newman to attempt an emergency landing on the two-lane highway in a rural area of the county. The plane safely landed on the highway, but then struck the back of Stuto’s car, he said. The impact apparently caused the plane to veer off the road and into a ditch.

“He picked a pretty safe place to touch down. It’s a long, straight stretch of road. Unfortunately, there was a car on the road,” Hanson said.

Federal aviation authorities could provide no additional details about the accident. William Stewart, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration’s flight standards office in Lincoln, said officials would investigate the incident. On Monday, investigators were taking the plane to an airport in Wahoho, Neb., to continue their inspection.