And You Thought Your Solo Was Harrowing...
A student pilot, reportedly on her first solo, safely landed a
Piper PA-28 (file photo of type below) without a nose gear at
Danbury Municipal Airport in Connecticut.
Witnesses said the nose gear came off on her first landing
attempt; she managed to get the aircraft airborne again and
called for help on the radio.
More than 20 city employees including police, fire rescue and
airport administrators responded to the call. Airport personnel
told the student on the radio to stay aloft until all the equipment
was in place.
As the aircraft touched down, two fire engines, a ladder truck,
ambulance and rescue command vehicle sat waiting on an adjacent
runway. The pilot was seen climbing from the aircraft after it came
to rest.
The city's Mayor Mark Boughton asked the FAA for the pilot's
name, but the agency refused to provide it. When asked why he
wanted her name, Broughton said he's aware of how much time and
effort city workers spent cleaning up after the accident.
The FAA has refused to release her name.
FAA spokesman Jim Peters told the Danbury News-Times, "You
will never see the FAA release the name of a pilot or crew," adding
when those names come out, such as in high profile cases like that
of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, the name wasn't released by the
FAA.
So far there is no indication why the nose gear came off, but
the FAA was on the scene.
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** Report created 12/15/2006 Record
1
**
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IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 44635
Make/Model: PA28 Description: PA-28
CHEROKEE, ARROW, WARRIOR, ACHER, D
Date: 12/11/2006 Time: 1920
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: DANBURY State: CT Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
ACFT ON LANDING, NOSE GEAR WHEEL CAME OFF, BECAME AIRBORNE
AGAIN, CIRCLED
UNTIL EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT WAS STAGED, LANDED WITHOUT FURTHER
INCIDENT,
DANBURY, CT
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
Activity: Training Phase:
Landing Operation: OTHER
Departed:
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination:
Flt
Plan:
Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:
FAA FSDO: WINDSOR LOCKS, CT
(NE03)
Entry date: 12/12/2006