Monday, August 12, 2013

Cessna T-41C Mescalero, USAF Dover Aero Club, N7884N: Aircraft force landed on a road, near Dover, Delaware

A small Air Force plane bounded to a halt in the center median of Route 1 Monday night after touching down in a field near Dover Air Force Base. 

Dover State Police’s Corporal Gary Fournier says the Cessna’s pilot and instructor are civilian members of the base’s civilian Aero Club, an aerial hobby group.

“It landed in that field, proceeded to across the field and through a fence, out onto the roadway and onto the right hand shoulder of Route 1 southbound and saw that it was running out of room and moved over to the center median of state Route 1 southbound, facing northbound,” said Cpl. Fournier.

No one was injured, however, numerous vehicles on the highway swerved out of the aircraft’s way. Katie Torbert says she was driving to the beach from Pennsylvania with four kids in the car at around 5:20pm when the plane interrupted her trip.

“All the cars in front of me started swerving in different directions and I swerved and slammed on my brakes and ended up hitting the guardrail. And, then noticed behind me that there was an airplane in the road. I didn’t hit the airplane,” said Torbert.

Dover State Police, Dover Air Force Base local first responders and FAA personnel responded to the scene, which backed up traffic for 2 and a half hours.

The cause of the landing is under investigation.

- See more at: http://www.wdde.org



An Air Force Aero Club Cessna R172E aircraft made an emergency landing on Del. Route 1 southbound Monday afternoon.











http://registry.faa.gov/N7884N

http://www.delawareonline.com

Dover, Del. — A Dover Air Force Base single-engine airplane made an emergency landing on Del. Route 1 southbound Monday afternoon.  
 
The plane landed safely with no injuries, according to officials from the Dover Air Force Base 436th Airlift Wing.

The Aero Club Cessna aircraft made the emergency landing between exits 93 and 91 on Del. Route 1 at approximately 5:23 p.m, Monday. The airplane was traveling from Richmond International Airport and was due to arrive at the Air Force base at 5:20 p.m., according to flightaware.com, an flight tracking website.

Traffic was diverted to the shoulder of the highway, causing a backup along the southbound lanes of Del. Route 1.

The cause of the emergency landing is not yet known, said DAFB officials. First responders from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware State Police and the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the scene this evening.
 

Minor damage was reported to the aircraft, said Michael O'Connor of the Dover Fire Department, which responded to the scene Monday. Dover Air Force Base Crash Rescue units were the first to respond, followed by the fire department, Delaware State Police, DelDOT and the U.S. Air Force.

Source: http://www.scsuntimes.com