ROCKFORD – A single-engine plane crashed in a northern Illinois cornfield, killing the only person aboard.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the crash happened Tuesday morning several miles southeast of Chicago Rockford International Airport. Cory said the plane had taken off from DeKalb.

Ogle County Sheriff Michael Harn said the pilot told controllers at Rockford’s airport that he had smoke in his cockpit and that he planned an emergency landing. When the airport lost contact with him, the sheriff’s department started a search.