Jerald Erickson, in pilot school, 1970

LE SUEUR – Jerald Erickson says he’ll continue to fly although he doesn’t know if he’ll crop dust any more.

Erickson, 27, of rural New Ulm spent Thursday at Minnesota Valley Hospital in LeSueur after walking away from a light plane crash as he was crop dusting a wheat field northwest of St. Peter.

It was the second time in a little more than a year that Erickson was involved in an air crash. A helicopter he was piloting crashed in the area last spring.

“THERE ARE dangers in anything that you do,” Erickson said from his hospital bed Thursday.” If you enjoy doing something you continue doing it.

“I’ll continue to fly, (but) I don’t want to be seen like I’m a fool. I’m not going to sit here and say,’ Aw, shucks, there’s nothing to it.'”

His wife Rebecca indicated that she doesn’t worry about Erickson’s flying.

“We have a strong Christian faith,and there isn’t anything to worry about,” she said.

ERICKSON, who works on his father’s farm in addition to crop dusting, survived the crash with only cuts and bruises.

He went home Thursday night after spending the day at the hospital for observation.

He learned to fly in the Army Aviation Corps, where he received his Wing March 22, 1970, from advanced helicopter school at Ft. Rucker, Ala.

During his tour in the service, he flew helicopters in Vietnam.

Why does he love flying?

“I guess you can basically ask anybody who flies why they do it,and it’s because they like to fly,” he said.

“I guess it’s true of all of us; it’s in your blood.”

ERICKSON describes the crash Thursday morning as “a blur of motion.”

He remained calm after the engine went out, he said,as he tried to land the plane.

“I’m busy; there isn’t any time to get scared or panic,” he explained.”You do that afterwards, but then it’s too late, so you don’t do it.”

He added that “the accident couldn’t have happened at a worse time, altitude, location, etc. Everything was wrong.”

PEOPLE ASK him why he doesn’t stop flying, he said. It’s obviously on his mind right now, he observed.

“I have no qualms about flying again,” he said. “I’ll fly again, but whether I’ll crop dust, I don’t know.

“I’ve got a decision to make. Now isn’t the time to make it.”

New Ulm Daily Journal

June 4, 1976