Texas businessman dies in Iowa plane crash

Published 8:36 am Friday, November 12, 2010

MILFORD, Iowa  — A Texas businessman has died after crashing a kit airplane near Milford in northwestern Iowa.

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reports aviation officials identified the man as 67-year-old Geary Gearn of Hereford, Texas. The Iowa State Patrol tells KTIV-TV the single-engine plane crashed Wednesday afternoon in southern Dickinson County.

Gearn has had the cattle feed mill business Gearn Industries Inc. for about 40 years. Office manager Deena Richards says Gearn took a commercial flight to Minnesota to pick up the plane. It was there for maintenance.

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Richards says Gearn intended to fly about 1,000 miles from Air Lake Airport in Lakeville, Minn., to Texas. The plane was a Swearingen SX300. Federal authorities are investigating the crash.