Jim Roesner, left of Salina talks to Lloyd Hetrick from the Lawrence Airport while Kansas Highway Patrol trooper J.A Kellerman listens in at the scene of a Thursday morning airplane crash. Roesner, of Salina was piloting the single-engine Beechcraft just west of Lawrence around 8:30 a.m. when a mechanical malfunction forced him to make a hard landing in a corn field next to U.S. Highway 24-40. Roesner, the plane's only passenger, was uninjured

An engine failure caused a Salina man to make a crash landing this morning in a Jefferson County cornfield about four miles northwest of the Lawrence Municipal Airport.

James Roesner, 52, was the only person aboard the Beechcraft Bonanza single-engine plane that made the landing at 8:30 a.m. along U.S. Highway 24-59. Roesner said he was flying from Abilene to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City, Mo., to conduct business.

“I had an engine failure, and unfortunately due to my altitude I could not quite make the field of Lawrence,” Roesner said.

He said he was in contact with Kansas City air traffic controllers, who helped him once his engine failed. He also wanted to avoid landing on the highway.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said an investigation normally takes up to two weeks.

Because the small airplane sustained damage to the nose gear, the FAA is considering it a noninjury accident instead of an incident which deals with mechanical failure but no crash damage, Molinaro said.