Plane on fire makes emergency landing in farmer's field
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (MERCER)--A witness seeing a plane flying low and on fire called 9-1-1 reporting a plane in distress in the area of Walters Road around noon on Saturday November 17, 2001. The pilot of the aircraft then made a safe emergency landing in a farmer's field in the rear of 51 Walter's Road Firefighters were on location within minutes but the fire had already extinguished on its own. There was no injuries reported in the emergency landing. Crews from the fire department assisted the Federal Aviation Administration-FAA in the investigation and helped tow the stranded plane to the roadway so it could be removed at a later date. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. The Washington Township Police, Allentown First Aid Squad and Mercer County Paramedics also responded to the scene.
Messenger Press Story:
Aircraft makes emergency landing off Walters Road in Washington Township.
WASHINGTON — A single-engine aircraft made an emergency landing
Saturday in Washington after its engine burst into flames.
The occupants, pilots Raymond Battreall of Wrightstown and Donna
Thompson of Howell were not harmed, said Lt. Dennis Symons of the Washington
Township Fire Department.
Lt. Symons said the plane landed in soybean field behind the house
of his uncle, Ken Symons, who lives at 51 Walters Road. Mr. Symons, who was
outside waxing his daughter's car, called 911 at 11:55 a.m. Saturday.
"He saw the plane coming in real low, making an emergency
landing — and it was on fire," Lt. Symons said.
The lieutenant said the Fire Department responded within five
minutes. He said the fire had extinguished itself by the time the crew arrived
— the pilots apparently shut off the engine while in the air and coasted to a
landing in the field, which just had been planted for winter wheat.
"They made a safe landing and did an excellent job," Lt.
Symons said.
He said the department used a brush truck to tow the plane to 51
Walters Road. His uncle happens to be a Federal Aviation Administration aviation
safety investigator.
Lt. Symons said the problem appeared to be a broken clamp that
connected a turbo charger to the plane's exhaust system.
He said another FAA investigator and an aviation inspector from the
Department of Transportation arrived at the scene as well.
Trenton Times Story:
Pilot lands damaged plane
11/18/01
By T.A. PARMALEE
Staff Writer
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- A single-engine aircraft that took off from Trenton-Robbinsville Airport yesterday made an emergency landing in a field behind the home of a Federal Aviation Administration investigator.
Ken Symons, an FAA aviation safety investigator who works at Teterboro Airport, was in the driveway of his township home buffing his daughter's car when he saw a low-flying plane spewing smoke just before noon.
He dropped what he was doing, ran into his Walters Road house and dialed 911.
"I saw it turn left in between two houses and the next thing I see, it was on the other side of the trees," Symons said. "I knew it was going down."
The plane -- an AC-11 Rockwell Aerocommander flown by Raymond Battreall of Wrightstown, a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor -- safely landed in a wheat field, said Ronald Harbist, an aeronautical operations specialist with the state Department of Transportation. Donna Thompson of Howell, a licensed private pilot, was a passenger in the plane.
Symons rushed to the field and found Battreall and Thompson unhurt. He introduced himself as an FAA investigator. "They asked me if I had followed them from the airport," he joked.
Battreall was at the controls when the plane's retainer clamp -- which connects the engine's turbo charger to its exhaust system -- apparently came loose, Harbist said. After that, the engine filled with flames, he said.
Battreall turned the engine off and the fire was out when the plane landed, investigators said.
"(Battreall) did shut the engine down in the air, so when you do that, you don't have many options," Harbist said. "You just pick whatever is in front of you. Luckily, there was a lot of farmland and they had a choice of where to land out. They were very lucky. The pilot did a nice job."
Harbist said Battreall has been a flight instructor since at least 1984.
The Washington Township fire department responded to the site and used a brush truck to tow the plane to Symons' backyard.
The plane suffered a minor crack to its wing tip, fire damage to its engine hoses and the broken retainer clamp, Harbist said. The plane appeared to have sustained no serious damage.
The plane is owned by Ramhorne Enterprise Inc. in Wrightstown, said FAA Spokeswoman Arlene Salac. The landing was being classified yesterday as an "incident," but that could change if it is discovered the plane sustained more serious damage, she said.
