Aircraft

[Texas Lawdog]

Yessir. That situation could have gone bad real fast.

[Delmonico]

Don't know if you've seen this:



Happened somewhere in the SE Us, don't 'member where, think it was Tues.

[Texas Lawdog]

That was interesting, but scary.

[Leo Tanner]

Was that a liquer store or a laundry mat they pulled in to?

[Texas Lawdog]

Leo, They would be covered both ways, to either wash their soiled pants or calm their nerves with a little liquior.

[Arcey]

Sez Winter Haven, Florida.

Doan know 'bout that'n. Rare when ya kin get a stretch ah road like that without o'er head wires, traffic lights 'n such. No traffic ta speak of in what's obviously a dense area 'n no ground communication on audio. Fishy.

Someone kin fake up a one wing landin' awhile back 'n this'n'd be easy. If I could figger the search terms I'd run it thru snopes.

[Leo Tanner]

Lil an I were sayin that too when we saw it.  There were a lot of shops on that strip an it looked ta be middle of the day.  Not one car on the road er pedestrian on the sidewalk.  Also, that's the kind a thing that ends up on the Today show that Lil watches.  No mention of it anywhere other than you tube.  We also thought it strange there was no radio activity, no mayday er nothin, just cockpit conversation.  Fishy says it all.

[Texas Lawdog]

If it was a joke, I would not want to be in small plane when they intentionally turned off the engine. That ain't funny!

[Leo Tanner]

coulda been a simulator, they're very realistic these days. 

Arcey mentioned Snopes, I haven't gone there in years.  Gonna have ta go pokin around again.

[Arcey]

Anyone check the area newspaper?

[Texas Lawdog]

I didn't look anywhere.

[Leo Tanner]

Thanks fer the update Pop.

[Leo Tanner]

Here ya go...

WINTER HAVEN - The video of a small plane making a dramatic emergency landing Sunday morning on Havendale Boulevard has been viewed nearly 14,000 times on YouTube. Along with the video are posted comments from a few among the thousands of viewers that the landing somehow was planned or staged.

The 22-year-old Lakeland pilot who guided the plane down to a safe landing said that's far from the truth.

"I think it's an insult to the aviation community and an insult to me," Kyle Davis said Wednesday.

Davis was flying a SkyRanger airplane Sunday morning from Winter Haven Municipal Airport to the Sun 'n Fun Fly-in at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport when the plane's engine cut out around 10 a.m. With passenger Joe Surowiec aboard the two-seater plane, Davis tried to restart the engine but was unsuccessful.

He then made the decision to land the plane on the wide Havendale Boulevard, which had very little traffic at the time.

As a flight instructor, Davis said he trains people to deal with this kind of situation, but he relied on the training he received when he learned how to fly.

"It's a second-nature response," Davis said.

He said that when plane engines cut out, they don't just fall from the sky; they continue to glide. The checklist he ran through in his head included flying the airplane, picking a place to land and trying to restart the engine, which he did.

In glide mode, he set the plane down in the westbound lanes of Havendale Boulevard near 29th Street, N.W., and then guided the plane into the parking lot of Brooks Furniture.

"I was never scared at the time, but later on that evening I was scared," Davis said. "It was an incredible amount of luck and a tiny bit of experience. God was watching over me."

He said he chose to land on Havendale Boulevard because it was clear of cars. He said if there had been any traffic at all on the road, he would have landed in a lake.

Davis has received a lot of national media attention from the video, which was shot by Surowiec, a professional videographer using cameras pointed inside and outside the plane, but the pilot said the attention has gotten "real old, real quick."

"I'm a normal guy with a normal job," Davis said. "It's been pretty tough to do my job and do this (give interviews) at the same time."

The video can be found online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT58Di51wDk.

shelly.godefrin@newschief.com

[Texas Lawdog]

Well, Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Arcey]

Very good, Leo.

We knew where it was by lookin' it the video 'n an approximate when from Del although he missed a black 'n white location.

Now we have whut the pilot's side of it is accordin' ta the news article.

We'll never know unless we could werk more with info we're not goin' ta have. An interview with the passenger would be real good. Two people can keep a secret. ..... If one of 'em's dead.

My gut reaction. The pilot knew where he was 'n where he was headin'. He had no problem startin' the engine when he needed air speed. It's bullcrap 'n he should be charged.

[Delmonico]

Could be, was posted on the Lab forum, I read about it on Fox on the phone.  I'd say with all the hype the FAA will check it out.

[Arcey]

The link ya posted had a CNN logo on it...............

[Delmonico]

The link ya posted had a CNN logo on it...............

Could be, was in a hurry and didn't look it over good, but it was also on Foxe a day or so ago, because my news home page gets Fox, MSNBC ABC, USA Today and ABC and most often just look at Fox.  Be interesting cause I'm sure by law the FAA has to investigate.

The FAA really came un-gled a few years ago out west of here, rancher had a litt Cub or something like it, like a lot of them used to, never licesed it, never got his pilot's license, used a lot of them surplus ones after WWII that were cheap, checked calle on the ranch, never went up very high.  Well like he always did at round-up, flew a few miles into the small town, landed on the road leadin' in and taxies up Main street, may 2-3 blocks long at most.  Ran into the bar, bough 2-3 cold cases of brew and flew em back to the pasture for an after supper snack, had been doin' it for years.  Somebody was in town that was not from around there, turned him in.  Not sure how they found him, but he got in a bit of trouble.

[Texas Lawdog]

Big Brother will always find out.

[Leo Tanner]

Kinda thinkin if he was in real trouble he woulda ditched in the drink rather than risk hurtin people an buildins. Fairly early Sunday mornin, our streets er deserted then too.  Sounds like a stunt, but I aint one ta assume.