Cessna 175A Skylark, N6793E: Incident occurred November 27, 2015 near Capital City Airport (KFFT), Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky

http://registry.faa.gov/N6793E

Date: 27-NOV-15 
Time:     20:15:00Z
Regis#:     N6793E
Aircraft Make:     CESSNA
Aircraft Model:     175
Event Type:     Incident
Highest Injury:     None
Damage:     Unknown
Flight Phase:     LANDING (LDG)
FAA Flight Standards District Office:   FAA Louisville FSDO-17
City:     FRANKFORT
State:     Kentucky

AIRCRAFT FORCE LANDED IN A FIELD, 5 MILES FROM FRANKFORT, KY





Dean and Cindy Stoops spent what he called “three and a half hours” of routine, boring flying on their way home from visiting their son and his family for Thanksgiving in Jacksonville, N.C. That was until early Friday when he discovered the Cessna 175A Skylark plane he was flying had lost some of its power on his descent as he neared Lexington.

Being who his wife Cindy has always called “Mr. Safety,” Stoops said his 40 years of flying experience and time flying Black Hawk helicopters for the Army National Guard during his military career kicked in and he decided not to risk flying over the city of Frankfort to get to the Capital City Airport for fear he could potentially end up crashing into a residence.

With Cindy’s help, Stoops said he spotted a field near the edge of the Franklin and Scott County line that appeared to provide the perfect place to make an emergency landing. It turned out to be an excellent decision because Stoops said that once he got lined up with the field, the engine completely quit.

“It was long enough and flat enough, and it was near a road and near a house, which are pretty much all of the things you would hope for,” Stoops said. “The landing was pretty uneventful.”

He said he was not scared or anxious as he prepared to land because he had years of training that had prepared him for such an emergency situation along with “a whole lot of good luck” in finding the perfect landing field.

Stoops, 56, landed the four-seater plane without damaging the aircraft and without any injuries to him or wife Cindy, 60. Their two dogs they had taken along on the trip—10-year-old Bubba, who is half pug and half beagle, and Charlie, a 4-year-old white Maltese, also escaped injury.

“The adrenaline didn’t hit until after we had landed,” Stoops said, conceding that he had only felt that large of an adrenaline rush a few other times in his life, two of which occurred when he experienced parachute malfunctions while skydiving and another when confronting a robber during a home invasion.

The couple who live in Burgin, near Harrodsburg, have flown to Hilton Head and Florida for family vacations in the past, Stoops said. The Cessna actually belongs to his father, Dick Stoops, of Versailles, he said, but he flies it fairly often as well.

Stoops said the emergency landing won’t impact his love of flying in any way.

“It’s like asking somebody who has been in an auto accident if they will give up driving,” he explained. “If you drive a vehicle long enough, you’re going to have an emergency at some point. So, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It’s something that I’ve planned for and trained for all of my life.”

Stoops said his father obtained his pilot’s license after returning from serving in Viet Nam. That launched the family’s passion for aviation

“We grew up with airplanes and flying on the weekends,” Stoops said. “Some families have a boat and spend time on the river. We had a plane and spent time flying.”

The shared generational passion for aviation influenced both Stoops and his son in their career choices.

Until six years ago, Stoops was a Senior Instructor Pilot for Black Hawk Helicopters for the Army National Guard and has flown overseas among locations such as Kuwait, Iraq, and South America. Stoops said his son is currently a V-22 Osprey instructor for the Air Force.

“Aviation is kind of in our blood,” Stoops said.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene located near U.S. 460.

“He made a great decision under stress not to fly over the city of Frankfort,” Sheriff Pat Melon said.

The owner of the open field where Stoops landed is allowing them to keep the plane there until he and his father who is an airplane mechanic and licensed FAA inspector can make the necessary repairs to safely move it, Stoops said.

Source:  http://www.state-journal.com

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT)- A trip home after spending Thanksgiving with family turned frightening for a central Kentucky couple and their dogs.

Investigators say they had to land their small plane in a field after experiencing engine trouble.

It happened late Friday afternoon at a farm on Woodlake Road in Franklin County, about seven or eight miles from Capital City Airport, investigators said.

Dean and Cindy Stoops, of Mercer County, and their two dogs were on the way home from North Carolina, where they spent Thanksgiving with family.

Dean Stoops, who was piloting the plane, told WKYT's Garrett Wymer that he could not get the plane to full power when he tried to level off as he neared the airport.

Instead of flying over the city and risking a crash there, he decided to land in an open field not far from U.S. 460.

"We give him kudos for not taking the chance to fly on in," said Franklin Co. Sheriff Pat Melton. "You're about seven or eight miles from Capital City Airport, so obviously he made a very conscious and very wise decision tonight."

No one was hurt and the plane was not damaged in the landing.

Stoops' father, who owns the plane, is an airplane mechanic, Stoops said, and together they tried to fix the plane. After still having problems, he says they secured the plane, and the property owner is letting them leave it there until they can fix it and fly it back to Capital City Airport where it is housed.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office is on scene of an emergency plane landing.

Franklin County Sheriff, Pat Melton, tells WKYT the plane landed in a field on Woodlake Road near U.S. 460.

Melton says the plane is intact, and the couple, who was on board the plane, is safe.

Investigators say the couple was flying from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to Frankfort.

Story, video and photo: http://www.wkyt.com