Thirty-one years ago today, two Troopers with the Iowa State Patrol died during an airplane crash southwest of Atlantic. It was on a Friday evening June 30, 1989, that the Cass County Sheriff’s Office contacted the State Patrol, requesting help with locating an elderly man who had wandered away from a nursing home. Trooper/Pilot Lance Dietsch of Council Bluffs and Trooper Stanley E. Gerling of Atlantic responded in a Maule Patrol aircraft.

Trooper Stan Gerling

Trooper Pilot Lance Dietsch

The search was about to be terminated when the two troopers spotted the man in a soybean field. The airplane turned sharply and plunged into the ground, nose first, killing both men. Troopers Dietsch and Gerling were the first aircraft fatalities since the addition of the Patrol Airwing in 1956. In Oct. 2012, two bridges in Cass County were named in honor of the men. The bridges are located along Highway Six.

Dietsch, of Council Bluffs, was 30-years old when he died, and a six-year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol. He was survived by his fiancé.’ Gerling was 34-years old, and in his first year of service to the Patrol. He is survived by his wife and two sons.