Chico >> A pilot made an emergency landing at the Chico airport Friday morning after his small plane’s engine failed and lost power, said Chico fire Capt. Chuck Fry.
The pilot, whose name was not released but who was estimated to be in his 60s, was shaken but unhurt as he safely landed the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, Fry said.
“I credit his ability to fly a plane,” he said. “It was all on that pilot to bring that plane down ... and be able to safely land it.”
The airport’s control tower notified Chico firefighters about 10:14 a.m. that a pilot about 5 miles out had lost power to his plane and was coming in for a landing, Fry said.
“His motor in his plane ... it blew apart,” he said. “So it lost power and he had a lot of burning oil that was all over the outside of the plane, and he actually had some smoke inside the cockpit also.”
The pilot landed about 10:17 a.m. and blew a tire out in the process, Fry said.
“It was a little bit of a rough landing for him,” he said, adding, “He came in a lot faster than usual since he wasn’t able to control the plane with any sort of engine power, so it was not a normal landing for him.”
No one else was aboard the plane, Fry said.
The emergency landing shut down one of two runways at the airport for over an hour as the plane’s tire was repaired so it could be towed to a hangar, he said. The airport remained open.
According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, the plane had departed from Hillsboro, Oregon, near Portland, about 8:06 a.m. and may have been heading toward Lincoln and Hayward.
The plane’s owner, according to FlightAware, is Barry Woods of Seattle.
Fry said emergency landings are not a common occurrence at the airport, and flight problems are usually corrected by pilots in air.
“In this instance, (the pilot’s) motor blew and he lost complete power,” he said. “He had no power when came in and landed. That doesn’t happen hardly at all.”
- Source: http://www.chicoer.com
http://registry.faa.gov/N135BW
A small plane landed safely at the Chico Municipal Airport Friday morning after reporting engine failure just moments before it landed, Chico fire officials said.
Crews received an alert about the plane around 10 a.m., and responded to the airport, where the plane, with the cockpit filled with smoke, touched down safely a few minutes later.
The smoke and engine troubles were the result of low oil pressure.
No injuries were reported.
- Source: http://www.actionnewsnow.com
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