Who Was That Masked King Air Pilot?
It was a textbook
event, one to make a flight instructor proud: after a bouncing
attempt to jar the right maingear of his King Air 100 (file photo
of type, right) into place, a pilot initiated a go-around at
Atlanta's Fulton County-Charlie Brown airport Thursday, before
bringing the twin turboprop around for a near-perfect belly
landing.
You'd think the pilot would at least want to make a curtain
call, or receive some recognition for a job well done. Not
necessarily... in fact, no one has seen the unidentified pilot
since he and his two passengers deplaned following the incident,
which was captured on live television.
"I don't have the pilot's name," said Gregory Chambers, a Fulton
County Fire Department spokesman, to the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. "That's the big mystery right now."
Efforts by the Journal-Constitution to identify the pilot
through the plane's owner, the FAA, airport officials in Savannah
and other local sources were unsuccessful Thursday.
Chambers said the pilot discovered while on approach to land at
FTY the plane's right landing gear wouldn't lower. The pilot
initially attempted jar the right maingear into place by touching
down on just the front and left gear (in and of itself a feat
worthy of note) but that didn't work.
So the unidentified
pilot circled back around, tucked everything back up, and made an
arrow-straight landing on the aircraft's belly. Several fire trucks
and ambulances were standing by in case they were needed to deal
with a post-touchdown fire, which never occurred.
The three people onboard the King Air appeared unharmed as they
exited the plane.
"It was a textbook landing," said Scott Smith, a flight
instructor for Air Transport Advancement Co. who watched the
landing after hearing the pilot report landing gear problems. "That
guy deserves an award in my book."
Whoever he is...
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IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 86TR Make/Model:
BE10 Description: 100 King Air (U-21F
Ute)
Date: 11/17/2005 Time: 1710
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Minor
LOCATION
City: ATLANTA State: GA Country: US
DESCRIPTION
ACFT LANDED GEAR UP, FULTON COUNTY AIRPORT, ATLANTA, GA
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 2 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: VFR
OTHER DATA
Departed:
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination: ATLANTA,
GA
Flt Plan: IFR
Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont: FINAL APPROACH
Last Clearance: CLRD TO LAND
FAA FSDO: COLLEGE PARK, GA
(SO11)
Entry date: 11/18/2005