Kings County Sheriff's Office plane makes emergency landing in Corcoran

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Two members of the Kings County Sheriff's Office are safe after having to make an emergency landing of their law enforcement plane in Corcoran on Wednesday.

The Kings County Sheriff's Office says their SkyKing1 patrol aircraft was flying over the area of State Route 43 and Oregon Ave in the City of Corcoran Wednesday night when the single engine on the plane suddenly failed.

The plane was only 1,200 feet off the ground at the time of the engine failure, but a private airstrip owned by the J. G. Boswell Company was located just below.

John Voss, a volunteer pilot, was behind the controls of the plane and a Kings County Sheriff's Sergeant was serving as the Tactical Flight Office. He operates the plane's video camera equipment and acts as an official observer.

Voss was able to glide the plane down to a safe landing on the airstrip's runway. Both Voss and the Sergeant walked away from the emergency landing with no injuries.

"An alternative that they might have had, had they not been able to find a runway or a safe landing area, was the plane's equipped with a ballistic parachute," said Kings County Sheriff's Commander Mark Bevens. "In speaking with the Sergeant today about the incident last night, in retrospect, he said, 'I was ready to pull that parachute.'"

Mechanics will now work to determine the cause of the engine failure.

The SkyKing1 plane is 2014 Flight Design CTLS, a "light-sport aircraft" which is smaller and less powerful than traditional general aviation airplanes.

The same type of aircraft, operated by the Tulare County Sheriff, was involved in a deadly crash in Springville back in February 2016.

RELATED: Tulare County Sheriff deputy and pilot killed in plane crash

In that case, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident was a stall caused by pilot error.