Busy weekend for crashes

Cedar Rapids, IA had two plane crashes this weekend. On Saturday night a C177 (N53120) crashed about a mile west of the airport while on an ILS to runway 9. The local paper had photos of the aircraft, and it appeared to suffer substantial damage. Last report in the paper was two serious condition and one fair. I'm assuming the fair was the pilot who the paper said was flagging down the emergency equipement as it arrived. No official news yet about the cause of the crash.

The second aircraft, a Cessna 172 (N8584X) crashed Sunday night about 1 1/2 to 2 miles east of the airport, apparently while heading for runway 27. Again, minor injuries. Foggy both nights. The local TV station showed the aircraft as being inaccessible by emergency vehicles, and locals loaned snowmobiles to travel to and from the site. Video from the scene again showed substantial damage. Local news said this one was due to fuel exhaustion.

I learned that N8584X was a VFR pilot on top of the overcast looking to land AWG; The C.R. news said he came out of Tulsa. Weather at AWG was not conducive to VFR flight and the pilot called CID for assistance, saying he was low on fuel. He did not run out of fuel. There were no airports with VFR weather within range (the system was quite extensive) and the controller ended up talking the pilot to CID. The controller talked the pilot down through weather with 100' ceiling and very low visibility. The pilot, not being instrument experienced, got within two miles of the runway on the ILS before crashing in a field fairly level, which is why he walked away with minor injuries. Good job, ATC!