Thu, Sep 03, 2009
Stall Practice Ends When Engine Quits
A Piper Cherokee reportedly practicing stalls near Bedford
Airport in Massachusetts experienced an engine failure and made an
emergency landing on I-495 Tuesday morning. Both the pilot
and passenger walked away dazed but unhurt, but the aircraft
suffered significant damage.
File Photo
FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the pilot, 24-year-old Matthew
Kleindienst of Stoughton, was either practicing or demonstrating
stalls. Kleindienst is a CFI, but it was not immediately determined
if his passenger, 21-year-old Brian K. Souza of Stoneham was a
student or just along for the ride. In any case, Peters said
Kleindienst had not done anything wrong. "The engine quit as he was
practicing and he couldn't restart it," Peters told the paper. "It
wouldn't be unusual for a pilot to be up there -- any pilot -- to
practice. There's nothing wrong with what they were doing."
I-495 parallels the runway of Bedford airport, but again, Peters
said it was not wrong to land on the highway. "There's not a
prohibition in terms of landing on a public highway in an emergency
situation like this," he said.
The Cherokee is owned by East Coast Aero Club. The club's owner,
Mark Holzwarth, said he had rented to Kleindienst before without
incident. He said he was reasonably certain Kleindienst had
performed his pre-flight checks properly. We don’t suspect
any system issues," he told the Globe. "As far as I know, the
airplane was in fine condition before he left. But like anything
mechanical, you can turn the key and hope everything continues to
work. Sometimes it doesn’t."
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