Impacts Car During Emergency Landing; No One Injured

To say that Enrique Marquez was surprised to see an airplane suddenly appear in front of his car Monday, as he drove along US Highway 441 in Florida, would be an understatement.

"I saw it go down right in front of me," Marquez told the Orlando Sentinel, recapping how the plane hit his Ford Focus as it descended onto traffic.

Bruce Hotz, builder and pilot of the experimental Watson WindWagon single-seat aircraft, was forced to land on the highway after the plane failed to gain altitude on takeoff from nearby Leesburg International Airport (LEE). Airport officials say the plane clipped a jet-blast barrier at the end of the runway.

Neither man was seriously injured. The small plane was totaled, however, and Marquez' car suffered front-end damage... including a piece of the plane wedged under its headlight.

Hotz wouldn't give details on the accident, which destroyed his homebuilt plane and forced him to walk back to the airport.

"It was an initial test flight, and the pilot does not wish to discuss it any further. Nobody was injured. The plane is basically totaled," he told the Sentinel.

KLEE manager Charlie Weller said the WindWagon -- a predecessor to the Hummel Bird, shown below -- was parked at the field for about six weeks, and Hotz had conducted high-speed taxi tests. Weller added Hotz attempted a first flight last week, but the plane only climbed about three feet off the runway before it came back down.

Report created 3/20/2007   Record 1
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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 9017M        Make/Model: EXP       Description: WIND WAGON EXP
  Date: 03/19/2007     Time: 1455

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: LEESBURG   State: FL   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT ON TAKEOFF, FAILED TO GAIN ALTITUDE AND STRUCK THE BLAST WALL, BOUNCED
  OVER THE WALL AND LANDED ON THE HIGHWAY, LEESBURG, FL

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   1     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: VFR

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Take-off      Operation: OTHER

  Departed: LEESBURG, FL                Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination: LEESBURG, FL             Flt Plan: VFR          Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL  (SO15)                   Entry date: 03/20/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov