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I would do it in a heartbeat!

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Would you land on a freeway?

  • Never

    Votes: 6 3.9%
  • Of couse, big long strip of pavement with no houses or buildings on it

    Votes: 115 75.7%
  • No way to decide, always other factors to consider (This is the cop-out answer)

    Votes: 31 20.4%

  • Total voters
    152

alimaui

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2002
Posts
207
Plane Crashes on Ohio Interstate
Thu May 16,10:02 AM ET

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (AP) - A small plane clipped a light pole and flipped over early Thursday while trying to make an emergency landing on Interstate 70 near this Columbus suburb.


Pilot Bruce Anderson, 51, of Columbus and passenger William Kreuger IV, 22, of Huron crawled out and were not hurt, said state Trooper Virgil Conley, who was in his car watching for speeders and was nearly hit by the plane.

The plane ended up partly on the interstate and partly in the median after the 3:15 a.m. crash.

It apparently had ran out of fuel during the planned flight from Oneida County Airport in New York to Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Conley said.

Conley said he watched the 1976 single-engine Piper Cherokee bank hard between two light poles and above the westbound lanes as it attempted to land on the interstate. It ended up about 50 feet from the trooper.

"At first, I was kind of dumbfounded," Conley said. "Then I realized he was coming right toward me."

Conley said he put his car in reverse but realized he couldn't go on the freeway because of oncoming trucks.

"Basically, I had no where to go," he said. "All options were bad."

The wreckage reduced traffic to one lane on the highway 13 miles east of Columbus during the morning rush hour.

The patrol said the plane would be hauled away on a flatbed truck after it was released by federal investigators.
 
How about planning your flight so as to not run out of gas? Flying an altitude giving you more choices than a freeway?
Setting up the glide to not have to hit a pole?
!
 
Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that what the Interstate Highway Act during the Eisenhower administration in the 50's design highways for that specific purpose??? Highways were built with long straight aways so military aircraft could use them as emergency landing strips if they needed to. If they could get a large bomber on there, don't see why you couldn't put a Cherokee down as well.
 
Illini.
I believe you to be absolutely correct. That was one of the original intentions of the interstate highway system, but somehow engineers have gotten away from the concept. They have cluttered the highways up with camera poles, billboards and other obstacles
 
At night it's great! Especially when flying over mountains. In California, the interstates are well lit with the required BLS. Get caught in a downdraft, day or night, and I-5 here I come.

BLS = Buick Lighting System

One just has to know where the powerlines and overpasses are. Another place, will most likely flip the airplane, is the runaway truck ramps. Land @ stall speed to minimize occupant damage.

During rush hours, one is better off landing anywhere but the freeways.:eek:

And the best method is to trust the watch not the indicators, and have enough fuel on board in the first place.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein
 
Rod Machado was the first pilot to tell me about the Buick Lighting System, and sure enough, not long after that, a pilot in our town put that system to use.

After departing Reading and climbing to 5,000 feet, he blew a cylinder on his way to PHL, and landed on 422 near Pottstown. The landing was nearly flawless, considereing an emergency scenario in the dark. He clipped the wing tip on an overpass abundtment, but walked away without a scratch.

I'm told he went right to a hotel to change his boxers...

Rod has the picture to use in his presentations..
 
The "cop-out" answer is the correct answer. There are too many variables for a carte blanche reply.
 
avbug said:
The "cop-out" answer is the correct answer. There are too many variables for a carte blanche reply.

Well of course there are other factors. It was just kind of a make you think type of thing. Thinking about it right now, would eliminate one of the first two options? Obviously in an emergency all factors considered there many different scenarios to weigh against each other. For some, however, there are some things that would never be an option.

Ali
 

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