A pilot and student practicing a simulated engine failure Wednesday didn’t have to wait long to put those skills to use when the plane’s engine failed to restart during the training exercise.

Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, pilot Anne Kautzky and her student, Harold Bright, were practicing a simulated engine failure in the skies near Pagosa Springs, according to the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office.

During the training, the plane engine failed to restart, and it became necessary to set it down, the Sheriff’s Office posted to its Facebook page.

Before executing the simulated engine failure, a safe location was identified in case it was necessary to land the plane.

Kautzky landed the plane in a field near the Wildflower subdivision, about 10 miles north of U.S. Highway 160 off Piedra Road.

Kautzky and Bright were not injured in the landing, the Sheriff’s Office said.

“However, the plane sustained moderate damage to the leading edge of both wings, the nose cone and the front landing gear after traveling through a fence, across the road, through another fence and eventually came to rest in the middle of a field.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash. But because there were no injuries or deaths, the Sheriff’s Office was released from the scene and the matter was turned over to insurance companies.

The Sheriff’s Office said the incident occurred on private property; it is asking people to stay off the property.

jromeo@durangoherald.com