CHESANING, Mich. -- Investigators in Chesaning are spending the afternoon trying to determine what caused a small plane to go down earlier Thursday.

It happened around noon at the Howard Nixon Memorial Airport. The Saginaw News reported two seventh-grade students and a pilot were able to walk away from the crash.

The students were part of a program through Thurston Middle School's "Young Eagles.”

The students and pilot suffered minor injuries, mainly split lips and bloody noses, after the plane’s landing wheel stalk snapped upon touchdown and caused the plane to lurch sideways and forward.

Beyond the headlines, this is at least the fourth small plane to crash, or make an emergency landing, in the past six months.

In July, a man was killed when his experimental plane crashed in Mount Morris Township.

In August, a Midland man was injured after his experimental plane crashed in Greendale Township.

The plane’s mechanic said the belts on the propeller burned, causing it to stop.

Also in August, a Bay City pilot went down near James Clemons Airport after an engine malfunction. He walked away from that crash.