Roxanne Ward, 42, told CNN the plane that circled above northern Mississippi landed near her home in Gravestown.
“He landed pretty hard,” she said.
The plane landed in a field several miles from an airport near Ripley, Mississippi, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Gravestown is located about a 5-mile drive from that airport, and about 45 miles northwest of Tupelo.
Video that Ward shared with CNN shows the small plane largely intact in a field with law enforcement surrounding the pilot.
“We did see the suspect with his hands up and we saw police detain him without any incident,” she said.
The plane landed behind the Gravestown Fire Department around 10:20 a.m. CT, Ward said.
“Police were there immediately, which led me to believe that they were following him,” she added.
Ward said she heard the plane coming and ran over to her father-in-law’s house to hide in the basement.
“That’s when we heard the thud,” she said.
CNN’s Michael Besozzi contributed to this post.
