DIETSCH, Lance Gerard 1939-1989
DIETSCH
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 3/2/2014 at 23:52:00
Iowa State Trooper pilot Lance Dietsch, and Trooper Stanley Gerling were killed in an airplane accident, while they searched for an elderly man who had wondered off.
The troopers were about to call of the search when they spotted the man in a soybean field. They began circling, when the airplane suddenly turned, and crashed vertically into the ground.
Trooper pilot Dietsch had served with the Iowa State Patrol for 6 years.
Lance was killed in the line-of-duty on June 30, 1989. On this final missionhe located a missing person.
Lance was the son of Cleo Dietsch and (the late) Robert Dietsch.
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[Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 3, 1989]Witnesses said pilot Lance Dietsch, 30, of Council Bluffs and trooper Stanley Gerling, 34, of Atlantic died when their single- engine Maule MX-7 plane plunged nose first into a field.
Moments before the crash at about 6 p.m., the troopers radioed to the ground that they had spotted a missing nursing home resident.
Ted Weddum, an Atlantic firefighter and a member of the search team that found the plane, said he saw the plane begin to turn around to make another pass over a field when suddenly it dropped down nose-first. An airplane traveling just fast enough to stay aloft while traveling straight and level could stall during a bank, since a plane loses lift during turns.
Dietsch had taken off alone around 4:30 p.m. to join the search for the missing resident and had returned to the Atlantic airport to pick up Gerling as "an extra pair of eyes," according to patrol Sgt. Don Rowland.
Dietsch was alive shortly after the crash but he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Gerling was dead when searchers reached the plane.
State Patrol officials said Dietsch, who was single, joined the patrol in 1983 and was previously stationed at Dubuque and Storm Lake. He had been flying patrol planes for four years.
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Gravestone at Calvary Cemetery, Waterloo inscribed Lance Gerard Dietsch, March 20, 1939-June 30, 1989---------------------------
[Radio Iowa 10-19-12)Signs honoring two Iowa State Troopers who died when their plane crashed into a field near Atlantic a little over 23 years ago, were unveiled at area bridges Thursday.
The bridges located along Highway Six in Cass County, were named for Troopers Lance Dietsch and Stanley Gerling.
Major Tim Leinen with the State Patrol spoke at the ceremony.
”Since the Iowa State Patrol’s inception in 1935, 10 troopers have paid the ultimate sacrifice in protecting the citizens of Iowa and all who travel through our state,” Leinnen said.
“These dedications will serve as a reminder of the gratitude that we have for our fallen, and the families that they have left behind.”
Six other troopers who lost their lives in the line of duty have already been recognized with bridge dedications.
The remaining two troopers will be honored over the next few weeks. Major Leinen said Dietsch and Gerling were killed in an airplane accident on June 30th, 1989, southwest of Atlantic while searching for a missing man.
"It was late in the afternoon when Troop-pilot Lance Dietsch, badge number 142, and Trooper Stanley Gerling, badge number 190, took off in the State Patrol aircraft. At approximately 5:45 p.m., the two troopers began working the area, guided by troopers on the ground. They were just about to call of the search when they spotted the elderly man on the ground in a soybean field,” Leinen explained.
"The plane dropped down to around 200 feet to circle the area so troopers on the ground could find the man. Leinen says the plane then unexplainably crashed into the ground and both men died. Troopers Dietsch and Gerling were the first to die in an aircraft since the addition of the Patrol airwing in 1956."
Dietsch, of Council Bluffs, was 30-years old, and a six-year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol. He was survived by his fiancé.
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People-Finder.ws shows his parents:
Cleo Germaine Dietsch and Robert Sebastian (1919-2003] Dietsch
Children: Tamara Annette, Lance G. & Nancy M.
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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