MARYSVILLE, Ohio Authorities say a pilot was killed when his small plane crashed while trying to go back to a central Ohio airport shortly after taking off.

The State Highway Patrol says 33-year-old Shannon Stage of Marysville attempted to return to the Union County Airport around 10:30 Thursday morning because of a mechanical problem with his plane. But the patrol's Sgt. Anne Ralston says the 1980 multi-engine Beechcraft didn't make it and crashed in a soybean field near the runway, then burst into flames.

Stage was the only person on board.

Marysville is about 100 miles south of Toledo.

First Published August 14, 2008, 7:30 p.m.