The pilot of a small private plane was uninjured after he made an emergency landing in a clearing in the state forest Sunday.

Shortly before 11 a.m. the single-engine plane went down in an area about a mile west of Martha’s Vineyard Airport, airport director Geoff Freeman said. The plane was believed to be having engine problems, Mr. Freeman said.

The man was checked out by the Edgartown Fire Department in the clearing and was not hurt. He was the only person aboard the aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. The pilot of the Mooney M20B plane had contacted air traffic control and declared the emergency, but was unable to make it to the airport, West Tisbury police said in a statement.

The plane then lost altitude and landed in the forest near the Rich’s Ride path.

The plane, which seemed to have minimal damage, is registered to Evan Shai of Oak Bluffs. According to flight trackers, the plane had taken off from the Katama Airfield at 10:36 a.m., flew over Chappaquiddick and proceeded over Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven.

In all the flight was less than 20 minutes.

The plane remained in the forest Sunday afternoon, roped off with yellow caution tape. Its presence in the forest drew the state Department of Conservation and some curious onlookers.

On Monday, the Department of Conservation said the FAA had released the plane to the owner and the town of West Tisbury was attempting to get the plane out of the forest at 5 p.m.

Sunday’s emergency landing was the second for the Island this month. On July 15, a woman aboard her husband’s small plane crash-landed at the airport after he had a medical emergency. The man later died at a Boston hospital.