The pilot killed in a plane crash south of Forest City was a Florida man who had been regularly shuttling Waldorf College officials between Alabama and Iowa.

The pilot, Tommy Shelton of Destin, Fla, “was a very good person,” said Waldorf President Joseph Manjone.

The crash was near Highway 69 and 310th Street.

Heather Jordon, a communications director at Waldorf College, said it was a plane leased to Waldorf and Columbia Southern University. It was coming into Forest City to pick up employees.

She said only the pilot was on board

Three employees were scheduled to leave Forest City this afternoon, Jordon said. The plane has been used in the past to shuttle college employees between Forest City and Alabama.

She said employees of Waldorf, which recently was purchased by Alabama-based Mayes Education Inc., frequently fly back and forth on business.

Manjone had flown on the plane in the past — including earlier this week — but was not one of those scheduled to board the plane Friday.

“I was just on the plane Tuesday, and it could as well have been me,” he said.

Manjone first heard about the crash at 2:45 p.m. from his administrative assistant, who heard about it from the police scanner in the office.

Manjone immediately tried to contact the employees who were supposed to board the plane because he didn’t know at that time if the crash happened en route to Forest City or after they had boarded.

“This is just tragic,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the pilot who lost his life. It’s just total shock. I think our whole campus is in shock.”

He said the plane was a Cheyenne II.

Hancock County Sherriff’s Deputy Ray Penning confirmed the plane crash, which occurred after 2 p.m.

Penning said the crash was about one-half mile into the field from 310th Street, about a mile and a half off of Highway 69 south of Forest City.

A spokeswoman for the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed the death of the pilot.

Jerry Lunning Sr. lives at 1985 310th St., about a 1 1/2 miles from the crash site. He was not home when the plane crashed but later saw a smaller red and white plane that a sheriff’s deputy told him was a spotter plane.

“We saw…a plane flying low, and (a sheriff’s deputy) said it was a spotter from the airport looking for it (crashed plane).”

An Iowa State Patrol trooper blocked 310th Street east of Highway 69. The crash site is not visible from Highway 69.

The trooper said no one would be allowed near the scene until the Federal Aviation Administration had been there and granted approval.

Check back later for more on this developing story.