dcramer16
Well-Known Member
From Butte Montana, site of the PC-12 crash, another close call. The weather yesterday was terrible. Blowing and drifting snow, freezing fog, low vis. We live about a mile off the main highway, and our lane is chest deep with snow from the drifting. We can't get out of our house for the next couple days cause of all the snow. Terrible weather yesterday. Well done to the pilot.
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/2009/03/30/area/hjjajggjjceije.txt
A pilot made a harrowing emergency landing at the Bert Mooney Airport Sunday afternoon, just a week after a catastrophic accident here claimed the lives of 14 people.
The pilot declared an emergency just before 3:30 p.m. while flying 7 miles outside of Butte when one of two engines on the PA-27 Aztec began smoking, said Rick Griffith, airport manager.
Butte police and fire, along with Montana Highway Patrol, A1 Ambulance and the airport's crash and fire crews responded to the call.
Flying with limited visibility, the pilot landed the plane about 10 minutes later without incident, Griffith said. The pilot and three passengers were not injured.
The emergency served as a grim reminder for response crews of the horrific crash a week earlier, nearly to the hour, which killed seven adults and seven children.
"Everyone on this emergency response team took a deep breath," Griffith told The Montana Standard after the plane landed.
The plane's pilot, a flight instructor whose name was not immediately available, landed in visibility well below the minimum normally allowed for landing clearance, Griffith said.
During Sunday's snowstorm, visibility fell to about a half mile with a 500-foot cloud ceiling. That's well below the 3 miles and 1,200-foot ceiling required to land at Bert Mooney.
The pilot told airport officials he turned off the smoking engine during his approach and landed with one motor, Griffith said.
See LANDING, Page A6 "He did a pretty amazing job of landing at the airport for not ever being here," he said. "That's a pretty good job of piloting." The plane is owned by a Michigan community college and had been traveling from Glacier Park International Airport to Provo, Utah, Griffith said.
Airport crews towed the disabled airplane off the runway, which was closed to all traffic during the incident, he said.
Griffith notified the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board about the incident.
The agencies are expected to decide Monday whether they plan to investigate, he said.
— Reporter Justin Post may be reached at justin.post@lee.net.
http://www.montanastandard.com/articles/2009/03/30/area/hjjajggjjceije.txt
A pilot made a harrowing emergency landing at the Bert Mooney Airport Sunday afternoon, just a week after a catastrophic accident here claimed the lives of 14 people.
The pilot declared an emergency just before 3:30 p.m. while flying 7 miles outside of Butte when one of two engines on the PA-27 Aztec began smoking, said Rick Griffith, airport manager.
Butte police and fire, along with Montana Highway Patrol, A1 Ambulance and the airport's crash and fire crews responded to the call.
Flying with limited visibility, the pilot landed the plane about 10 minutes later without incident, Griffith said. The pilot and three passengers were not injured.
The emergency served as a grim reminder for response crews of the horrific crash a week earlier, nearly to the hour, which killed seven adults and seven children.
"Everyone on this emergency response team took a deep breath," Griffith told The Montana Standard after the plane landed.
The plane's pilot, a flight instructor whose name was not immediately available, landed in visibility well below the minimum normally allowed for landing clearance, Griffith said.
During Sunday's snowstorm, visibility fell to about a half mile with a 500-foot cloud ceiling. That's well below the 3 miles and 1,200-foot ceiling required to land at Bert Mooney.
The pilot told airport officials he turned off the smoking engine during his approach and landed with one motor, Griffith said.
See LANDING, Page A6 "He did a pretty amazing job of landing at the airport for not ever being here," he said. "That's a pretty good job of piloting." The plane is owned by a Michigan community college and had been traveling from Glacier Park International Airport to Provo, Utah, Griffith said.
Airport crews towed the disabled airplane off the runway, which was closed to all traffic during the incident, he said.
Griffith notified the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board about the incident.
The agencies are expected to decide Monday whether they plan to investigate, he said.
— Reporter Justin Post may be reached at justin.post@lee.net.
