Accident occurred July 14, 2015 in Monroe County, Ilinois

FESTUS, Mo. - A plane used for skydiving crashed Tuesday afternoon resulting in no injuries.

The plane, a four-seat skydiving plane, took off from Festus Memorial Airport at around 2 or 3 p.m., an airport employee said. The plane was being used for the Fly Free skydiving school.

After the planned skydivers jumped from the plane, the plane malfunctioned. The pilot lost control of the plane when he was supposed to be returning to the airport. With the plane drifting southwest toward Illinois, the pilot decided to jump.

He landed safely and has since joined the search team looking for the plane. The searchers know the plane crashed somewhere in Monroe County, Ill., but have not pinpointed the location.

This story will be updated when more information becomes available.

FESTUS, Mo. (KMOV.com) - A pilot was forced to jump from a small Cessna 182 plane after departing from Festus Memorial Airport, airport officials said.

The pilot took a group of skydivers up in the air on Tuesday afternoon and after the skydivers all jumped, the pilot began experiencing problems.

The pilot circled the airport a few times before deciding to exit the plane. He then flew over to rural Southern Illinois and parachuted from the plane.

The pilot was not injured and none of the skydivers knew there was an issue, officials said.

Source:  http://www.kmov.com