WEST CALDWELL — The pilot of a single-engine plane safely guided his craft onto a fairway at the Mountain Ridge Country Club this afternoon after the Cessna experienced engine trouble just short of Essex County Airport in nearby Fairfield, police and the veteran flyer said.
There were no injuries to the 62-year-old pilot, Stephen Lind; to his student, a 16-year-old female; or to any golfers, Lt. John Kopf said.
The Cessna was cleared to land at Runway 4 when its engine suddenly wound down to idle speed, Lind said from his Whippany home this evening.
“We were too far from the airport to make it, and the golf course was right there,” he said.
He spotted three fairways. The two longer ones, though, had golfers on it. “Fortunately, the other one didn’t have any people,” he said.
“We did our emergency procedure and with the help of the big ranger in the sky we put her down,” said Lind, who has been flying since the late 1960s and used to pilot bush planes in Alaska.
“I missed a tree by 3 feet off the right wing and bunker by 5 or 6 feet to the left,” he said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane is registered to Eagle Flight Squadron Inc. in East Orange, a nonprofit group that promotes aviation-related activities to youth, where Lind has been chief flight instructor for 14 years.
He called the Cessna, which was built in 1973, “a perfect plane” that passed inspection last month. He suspected that a throttle cable might have come loose.
The country club’s general manager, Steve Wolsky, said Lind made an expert maneuver onto the course’s fifth fairway.
Although there were several people playing the course on this Memorial Day weekend, none were in danger, he said.
“There were people all around and close,” Wolsky said. “People watched it and saw happen.”
An airport official said he had no comment. Wolsky said technicians were taking the plane apart and would transport it on a flatbed truck.
Township fire and police personnel, as well as Fairfield police and the West Essex First Aid Squad responded to the incident. The FAA is investigating, an agency spokeswoman said.
Lind said his student assured him she would soon be flying again.
“My 16-year-old student can’t wait to get to school to tell the story,” he said. “She was mad because she didn’t have her phone and couldn’t take any pictures.”
Story, photo and comments/reaction: http://www.nj.com
A small plane made an emergency landing this afternoon at the Mountain Ridge Country Club, not far from Essex County Airport.
No comments:
Post a Comment