Sat, Sep 17, 2005
Skyhawk Lands In Rush Hour Traffic
Commuters driving home from work in Huntsville, AL Wednesday
received quite a shock when a Cessna 172 landed on a busy street
during afternoon rush hour.
According to media reports, pilot Robert Conklin barely cleared
an overpass before initially setting the powerless plane onto a
grass median. Conklin then straightened the aircraft out and guided
the plane onto the road, missing all traffic on the street and
causing no damage to the airplane. Conklin suspects that water in
the fuel caused the engine to quit.
Commuter Matt Bolling, who was driving home from his job at
nearby Redstone Arsenal, witnessed the emergency landing up close
as he saw the stricken Skyhawk land “right in front of
me,” according to the Huntsville Times. “Missed me by
15 feet.”
Conklin and his
passenger, David Stokes, emerged from the plane with no injuries.
The two men were on a demo flight in the aircraft, with Conklin
demonstrating the airplane to Stokes on behalf of the airplane's
owner.
Bolling, who took flying lessons in the 1980s, called
Conklin’s efforts “the best landing I’ve ever
seen. One, [Conklin] was dead stick. Two, he had all the traffic to
contend with, and three, it was like threading a needle to get over
that overpass.”
The incident was reported to the NTSB before the Skyhawk was
loaded onto a wrecker and taken to a hangar at Redstone Airfield,
where the flight had originated. No word yet if Stokes is still
interested in the Cessna.
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