The Transportation Safety Board says the pilot of a small plane that crashed in southeastern Saskatchewan had just switched fuel tanks before losing engine power.

The single-engine Piper Cherokee 6 left Carlyle on Sunday morning and was forced to land about 25 minutes later in a farmer's field near Kisbey, about 150 kilometres southeast of Regina.

All six people on board survived and the pilot was taken to hospital.

Peter Hildebrand, a regional manager for the safety board, says it appears the pilot had been drawing fuel from one tank and had changed over to a second one when the engine lost power.

Hildebrand says that can happen if there is air or a blockage in the fuel lines, although it is often just temporary.

Investigators are still in the early stages of their probe and have not yet spoken to the pilot.