Small Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Midland County
- Thread starter Rocky
- Start date
Here's my side of the story, what I send to my parents:
On Sunday I experienced engine trouble while flying pipleline patrol in West Texas. After finishing up my last field of the day I was headed back to my base, Skywest Airport 7T7. Approximately 15 miles from the airport my engine started running very rough, enough to vibrate the plane so bad I couldn't hardly see straight. I experienced about a 50% loss of power and was unable to hold altitude. At this time I went through my emergency procedures. Pushed the throttle full in, Mixture full in, checked and made sure the fuel selector was on "Both", checked engine temp and oil pressure, pulled Carb Heat "Out" to make sure I wasn't getting Carb Icing. After all this, and still having engine problems, and loosing altitude, I looked around and off in the distance was a two lane highway. Other than that all I had was a dense field of mesquite trees underneath me. So I aimed straight for the highway and prayed there wasn't lots of powerlines, traffic or road signs. I still had enough power that I was able to travel a fair distance. Thanks be to God that I was able to make the highway, there wasn't any powerlines in my way, no road signs, and no traffic. I called up Midland Approach "Mayday Mayday Mayday. Pipeline 9922V is 20 mile southwest of Midland International. I have lost engine power and will be making an emergency landing." Midland Approach came back on and acknowledged my emergency, and notified me the DPS was on the way. I landed the plane on the highway without incident. In fact, the highway was wider and smoother than the runway at my home airport, ha ha.
Once on the ground my first task was to move the plane out of the way. I pushed the tail of the airplane over the ditch beside the road to be perpendicular to the road. I pushed the plane back all the way to where the pavement ends. At this point the airplane was only blocking half a lane cause the nose stuck out. Soon after I was met by the Texas version of the Highway Patrol, the Department of Public Safety, DPS. Once outside his cruiser the officer asked me "Are you ok sir, is there anything I can do for you?" I told him I was fine, and unless he had some nicotine in his cruiser, there wasn't much he could do for me. (I quit smoking months ago, and really felt like I could use a cigarette!) After taking my information, the officer told me that I would have to move the plane off the road. I told him that all I could do was push it into the ditch, and I wasn't about to do that. I explained that if I pushed it into the ditch it would damage the tail of the aircraft, and that I wasn't about to total an $80,000 airplane. He told me I was blocking traffic. I explained to him that in the hour since I had landed, only 3 cars had passed and that traffic was light, the road was straight for 2 miles each direction and any traffic would see me in plenty of time. The officer told me it would be up to the sheriffs department since it was their jurisdiction, and that a deputy would be along shortly.
5-10 minutes later the sheriffs deputy arrived. Now keep in mind that the first words out of the DPS officers mouth was "Are you ok sir, is there anything I can do for you" Well, the first words out of the sheriff deputy's mouth was "YOU NEED TO GET THIS AIRCRAFT OFF THE ROAD NOW!!!!!!" (Screaming at me at the top of his voice) My response to this was "Officer, I can't push this plane any further off the road, if I do, it will slide into the ditch and damage the plane, and I won't be responsible for totaling a perfectly good airplane." His response to me was "Then someone's going to jail!" At this point, I had already just about crapped my pants when the engine went tits up, and I was still pretty shaken up from the emergency landing, so my response to him was "THEN F'ING ARREST ME!, LETS GO, CUFF ME, LET'S GO TO JAIL!!!!!!!!!" (At the top of my voice) He was pretty surprised that I didn't lay down on the road and lick his boots! He kept telling me that I needed to push the plane off the road, and that I was blocking traffic. I kept explaining to him that traffic was very very light and that I wasn't going to push the plane into the ditch. I told him that he was more than welcome to push the plane into the ditch himself and clear the road. He didn't seem to want to do this.
Frankly I was surprised at this guys attitude. Here I had just narrowly avoided a serious accident, and he was so concerned about clearing the road he was ready to send me to jail, even though this was a paved road in the middle of nowhere with NO traffic. So I called my boss and told her I was about to go to jail, to be ready to bail me out, because I wasn't going to push the airplane into the ditch and completely ruin the plane. So she had me put her on the phone with the sheriffs deputy. He walked away from me so I couldn't hear the conversation, but I could hear him yelling at her too. Let me tell you, my boss isn't someone you want to yell at....seriously....!!!!!
So I guess they worked out the deal that he could drive down the road and see if there was a turnoff nearby that I could taxi my plane too, and if I could get it off the road, he would shut up. So he drove off and found an open spot near the road about a mile away. He came back and told me about it, and I got into the plane to see if it would start. It did! So he got to drive in front of me with his lights flashing while I taxied the plane down the road to the clearing. I was happy for him, I could tell he felt so important. So did I, I got a police escort!! Ok, I'm dripping with sarcasm....
Once I got the plane parked, off the road, he asked me what was going to happen. I told him that once the mechanic arrived he was going to try and fix it. If we could get it running, I would fly it to the airport. He told me "Sounded to me like it was running when you drove it down here." So I told him, "UM, OK, ONCE WE GET IT RUNNING PROPERLY I AM GOING TO FLY IT BACK TO THE AIRPORT" He didn't like my tone of voice, but at this point, I didn't care, he was an ! He told me that if we got the plane running and if I decided to take off, I had the option to call the sheriffs office, and he would come back and stop traffic while I took off. I told him, whether we got the plane running or not, his services would no longer be necessary. So he drove off, THANK GOD! I made sure to thank the DPS officer for his professional attitute, and pointed out the fact that his way of handling things was like night and day compared to the sheriffs deputy. He looked me right in the eye, and said "We always try and keep a professional attitude, more than some of the locals"
After a while, the company mechanic arrived. He pretty much took the engine apart and looked at everything. He couldn't find anything wrong with it!!!! So after and hour of him looking at it, he put it back together and we gave the plane a "run-up". It ran fine. So I made the decision to attempt to take-off and fly it the rest of the way to the airport. After take-off, the plane ran great. I got it back to the airport without incident.
After further examination, it was discovered that the carburetor was injecting too much fuel into the engine and the fuel/air ratio was way way way too rich. That was the reason for the engine running rough, and the extreme loss of power. The plane is fixed and back out on the line. Life goes on.
By the way, the local Sheriff called back my boss, after our complaint. He said he reviewed the dash-cam tapes and apologizes profusely for the deputy's actions! Not very often you get one of those!
Here is a local news clip about the accident.
http://www.cbs7kosa.com/news/details.asp?ID=20259
On Sunday I experienced engine trouble while flying pipleline patrol in West Texas. After finishing up my last field of the day I was headed back to my base, Skywest Airport 7T7. Approximately 15 miles from the airport my engine started running very rough, enough to vibrate the plane so bad I couldn't hardly see straight. I experienced about a 50% loss of power and was unable to hold altitude. At this time I went through my emergency procedures. Pushed the throttle full in, Mixture full in, checked and made sure the fuel selector was on "Both", checked engine temp and oil pressure, pulled Carb Heat "Out" to make sure I wasn't getting Carb Icing. After all this, and still having engine problems, and loosing altitude, I looked around and off in the distance was a two lane highway. Other than that all I had was a dense field of mesquite trees underneath me. So I aimed straight for the highway and prayed there wasn't lots of powerlines, traffic or road signs. I still had enough power that I was able to travel a fair distance. Thanks be to God that I was able to make the highway, there wasn't any powerlines in my way, no road signs, and no traffic. I called up Midland Approach "Mayday Mayday Mayday. Pipeline 9922V is 20 mile southwest of Midland International. I have lost engine power and will be making an emergency landing." Midland Approach came back on and acknowledged my emergency, and notified me the DPS was on the way. I landed the plane on the highway without incident. In fact, the highway was wider and smoother than the runway at my home airport, ha ha.
Once on the ground my first task was to move the plane out of the way. I pushed the tail of the airplane over the ditch beside the road to be perpendicular to the road. I pushed the plane back all the way to where the pavement ends. At this point the airplane was only blocking half a lane cause the nose stuck out. Soon after I was met by the Texas version of the Highway Patrol, the Department of Public Safety, DPS. Once outside his cruiser the officer asked me "Are you ok sir, is there anything I can do for you?" I told him I was fine, and unless he had some nicotine in his cruiser, there wasn't much he could do for me. (I quit smoking months ago, and really felt like I could use a cigarette!) After taking my information, the officer told me that I would have to move the plane off the road. I told him that all I could do was push it into the ditch, and I wasn't about to do that. I explained that if I pushed it into the ditch it would damage the tail of the aircraft, and that I wasn't about to total an $80,000 airplane. He told me I was blocking traffic. I explained to him that in the hour since I had landed, only 3 cars had passed and that traffic was light, the road was straight for 2 miles each direction and any traffic would see me in plenty of time. The officer told me it would be up to the sheriffs department since it was their jurisdiction, and that a deputy would be along shortly.
5-10 minutes later the sheriffs deputy arrived. Now keep in mind that the first words out of the DPS officers mouth was "Are you ok sir, is there anything I can do for you" Well, the first words out of the sheriff deputy's mouth was "YOU NEED TO GET THIS AIRCRAFT OFF THE ROAD NOW!!!!!!" (Screaming at me at the top of his voice) My response to this was "Officer, I can't push this plane any further off the road, if I do, it will slide into the ditch and damage the plane, and I won't be responsible for totaling a perfectly good airplane." His response to me was "Then someone's going to jail!" At this point, I had already just about crapped my pants when the engine went tits up, and I was still pretty shaken up from the emergency landing, so my response to him was "THEN F'ING ARREST ME!, LETS GO, CUFF ME, LET'S GO TO JAIL!!!!!!!!!" (At the top of my voice) He was pretty surprised that I didn't lay down on the road and lick his boots! He kept telling me that I needed to push the plane off the road, and that I was blocking traffic. I kept explaining to him that traffic was very very light and that I wasn't going to push the plane into the ditch. I told him that he was more than welcome to push the plane into the ditch himself and clear the road. He didn't seem to want to do this.
Frankly I was surprised at this guys attitude. Here I had just narrowly avoided a serious accident, and he was so concerned about clearing the road he was ready to send me to jail, even though this was a paved road in the middle of nowhere with NO traffic. So I called my boss and told her I was about to go to jail, to be ready to bail me out, because I wasn't going to push the airplane into the ditch and completely ruin the plane. So she had me put her on the phone with the sheriffs deputy. He walked away from me so I couldn't hear the conversation, but I could hear him yelling at her too. Let me tell you, my boss isn't someone you want to yell at....seriously....!!!!!
So I guess they worked out the deal that he could drive down the road and see if there was a turnoff nearby that I could taxi my plane too, and if I could get it off the road, he would shut up. So he drove off and found an open spot near the road about a mile away. He came back and told me about it, and I got into the plane to see if it would start. It did! So he got to drive in front of me with his lights flashing while I taxied the plane down the road to the clearing. I was happy for him, I could tell he felt so important. So did I, I got a police escort!! Ok, I'm dripping with sarcasm....
Once I got the plane parked, off the road, he asked me what was going to happen. I told him that once the mechanic arrived he was going to try and fix it. If we could get it running, I would fly it to the airport. He told me "Sounded to me like it was running when you drove it down here." So I told him, "UM, OK, ONCE WE GET IT RUNNING PROPERLY I AM GOING TO FLY IT BACK TO THE AIRPORT" He didn't like my tone of voice, but at this point, I didn't care, he was an ! He told me that if we got the plane running and if I decided to take off, I had the option to call the sheriffs office, and he would come back and stop traffic while I took off. I told him, whether we got the plane running or not, his services would no longer be necessary. So he drove off, THANK GOD! I made sure to thank the DPS officer for his professional attitute, and pointed out the fact that his way of handling things was like night and day compared to the sheriffs deputy. He looked me right in the eye, and said "We always try and keep a professional attitude, more than some of the locals"
After a while, the company mechanic arrived. He pretty much took the engine apart and looked at everything. He couldn't find anything wrong with it!!!! So after and hour of him looking at it, he put it back together and we gave the plane a "run-up". It ran fine. So I made the decision to attempt to take-off and fly it the rest of the way to the airport. After take-off, the plane ran great. I got it back to the airport without incident.
After further examination, it was discovered that the carburetor was injecting too much fuel into the engine and the fuel/air ratio was way way way too rich. That was the reason for the engine running rough, and the extreme loss of power. The plane is fixed and back out on the line. Life goes on.
By the way, the local Sheriff called back my boss, after our complaint. He said he reviewed the dash-cam tapes and apologizes profusely for the deputy's actions! Not very often you get one of those!
Here is a local news clip about the accident.
http://www.cbs7kosa.com/news/details.asp?ID=20259
R
Roger, Roger
Guest
Float sank?
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
I haven't dealt too much with the local LEOs, but the West Texas DPS officers I've dealt with have always been true professionals.
Champcar
Well-Known Member
Damn, I would have soiled my pants a second time.
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
Although if you had gone to jail, you would have no doubt been on those morning news shows. "PILOT IS ARRESTED FOR MAKING SUCCESSFUL EMERGENCY LANDING" ... but let's first get a check of the weather with Al.
No, it's not Laurie, but she's nobody to mess with either!you mentioned that your boss was a lady. Was it Laurie (sp)? I understand that she is nobody to mess with.