Friday, October 07, 2022

Fisher Celebrity, N655WP: Accident occurred October 06, 2022 near Piedmont Triad International Airport (KGSO), Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Greensboro, North Carolina

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances. 


Date: 06-OCT-22
Time: 20:19:00Z
Regis#: N655WP
Aircraft Make: FISHER
Aircraft Model: CELEBRITY
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: MINOR
Flight Crew: 1 Minor Injuries
Pax: 0
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: DESTROYED
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: UNKNOWN (UNK)
Operation: 91
City: GREENSBORO
State: NORTH CAROLINA



Wesley Parker is OK after his plane crashed into a Greensboro neighborhood.





GREENSBORO, North Carolina — Wesley Parker has a lot of experience flying. He’s been doing it for 50 years.

When his small single-engine plane went down Thursday afternoon in a Greensboro neighborhood, he said those years of experience kicked into gear.

“I was surprised I walked away from it,” Parker said.

The veteran pilot survived after crashing between two homes on Birkdale Drive.

“It started out just doing some practice flights at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, and I took off - everything was normal. I was flying around. I was about halfway around, coming in for landing again, and the engine stumbled a little bit and caught my ear, and I was like what was that?” Parker said.

He said about 20 seconds later, his engine quit.

“So, I went through all of my emergency procedures, as you’re supposed to do. I checked my fuel. I checked if the fuel pumps were on. I checked everything out and actually got it to restart, and it ran for probably 30 seconds and then it quit again,” Parker said.

The starting and stopping continued a few more times. Parker went through his emergency procedures each time.

“The last time it restarted, just before it hit the trees, and maybe a couple seconds at the most, all of my training started to kick in, and you’re supposed to fly the airplane; you don’t quit flying it until it can’t fly anymore, you fly it all the way into the ground - and that’s what I did. I flew it all the way down and once I got into the trees, it was still kind of out of control at that point,” Parker explained.

Parker said he was in the air for only a couple of minutes, maybe four.

He said this flight was a test run to make sure he could go on a much longer trip.

“I was getting ready to ferry the airplane across country, and so I wanted to make sure there were no problems,” he said.

Parker said that trip won’t be happening now.

The plane landed between two homes. It broke a window and damaged some siding on one of the houses. Parker said he’s glad no one was hurt.

“You try to aim for the space between the two houses and that’s what I got,” he said.

Parker said there wasn’t any time to be scared.

“I have a lot of people asked me if it scared me and I said no. I was just thinking about it all the way until I hit, and I was just thinking about it - fly the airplane, fly the airplane,” he said.

Parker said his airplane is likely a total loss, but he’s thankful he’s OK.

“I got a couple of scrapes on my leg. I got a couple of scrapes on my back - I think it was from tree branches, but I’m doing good. I’ve been walking around. How can I argue?” he said.

Despite the crash, this aviator isn’t done taking to the skies just yet.

“Not even for a minute…I had this belief that when your time is up, it’s up and you can be sitting at home in your living room, and you are going to die or you can go out and live life,” Parker said.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating the crash. No neighbors were hurt.

4 comments:

  1. I feel very sorry for this owner, but did he get too involved trying to restart the motor instead of looking for an open area to land? Sad to see this airplane wrecked, but glad he's okay.

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    1. It doesn’t sound like he had much of a choice and his description is textbook on how to handle an emergency like this. Most flying manuals recommend a quick check to try and restart, time permitting.

      Legend Bob Hoover was quoted as saying: “Fly the plane into the crash, Don’t stop flying!” Exactly what this pilot did. By aiming in between the buildings, he wrecked the wings but avoided a head on collision with an object that might have killed him. Hopefully, insurance will cover the damage.

      I agree, sorry you lost what looked like a great little airplane, but happy you survived to be able to keep on flying!

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    2. Not going to second guess a guy who flew it all the way in then walked away with only a couple of scratches. Great attitude lesson in his belief "that when your time is up, it’s up and you can be sitting at home in your living room, and you are going to die or you can go out and live life".

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    3. Thx for your kind words. Normally I like to fly a tight pattern but on this flight, the tower had extended my downwind leg for landing traffic and that extension placed me over a heavily wooded area. Unfortunately the Celebrity has a glide ratio like a penguin. Although it glides very well, It just doesn't glide very far. Lots and lots of drag. I was going for the golf course, but couldn't make it. There was nothing but Trees. (big trees!!)
      As a side note, this is the second crash that I lived through. The first was as a 15 year old passenger in a Cherokee six. I walked away from that one too. The "Six" was totally destroyed.
      Wes

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