Plane makes a crash landing on Clear Lake

(Above) Department of Natural Resources officers were quickly on the scene of a downed plane on Clear Lake Saturday.  There were no injuries in the emergency landing of the 1943 aircraft.-Photo courtesy of Mike Quinn.

Clear Lake was a busy place Saturday.  The west end of the lake was filled with automobiles, ice houses and anglers as the Yellow Bass Bonanza was in process.  The rest of the lake was seeing plenty of action, too, as snowmobilers, casual anglers and even a few kite skiers were spending time on the ice.  And then, just after 1 p.m., a plane made an emergency landing on the ice.

At approximately 1:10 p.m. Saturday, the Clear Lake Police Department received numerous reports of the plane down in the 3700 block of North Shore Drive and notified the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers were on the scene almost immediately and spoke to pilot Doug Rozendaal.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane is owned by Planelease LLC, Mason City. Rozendaal is the owner of the LLC.  The Taylorcraft model L-2M fixed wing single-engine was manufactured in 1943.  One of the skis on the plane’s landing gear malfunctioned, causing the awkward landing.

The plane later was returned to the Mason City Municipal Airport with officials saying the situation was handled.