Posted on 12/31/2002 9:33:19 AM PST by RGSpincich
---- A former World War II fighter pilot escaped injury when he was able to safely land his experimental single-engine aircraft on northbound Interstate 15 Monday.
JOHN HALL Staff Writer CORONA (So. California)
Ken Nicholson, 83, of Anaheim Hills, said he had been building and working on the Lancier 320 for about 12 years. He took off at about 11:30 a.m. from Chino Airport and was traveling at an altitude of about 6,500 feet on his way to French Valley Airport when an oil leak caused the engine to seize up.
Unable to gain altitude but still able to glide, Nicholson flew under a large freeway sign that spans all lanes, clipped the roof of a motor home and skidded to a stop in the interstate's two left lanes.
The unexpected 11:50 a.m. landing caused a tremendous traffic backup that stretched about five miles south as motorists inched past in the freeway's far right lane. Traffic was back up for more than two hours after the crash landing.
A woman driving behind the motor home Monday morning said she couldn't believe what she was seeing as the plane glided under a freeway sign. Anne Jones of Tucson, Ariz. was driving a Ford F-150 pickup behind her husband as he drove the motor home.
"It was like a Hollywood stunt," she said of Nicholson's maneuver under the sign directing motorists to either northbound I-15 or onto Highway 91.
She said that once the plane came to a stop on the freeway, "people stopped and everyone was running out of their cars with cell phones and fire extinguishers."
Her husband, Doyle, jumped from the motor home and pulled Nicholson from the aircraft.
"He was unconscious, but then he regained consciousness," Doyle Jones said.
Recalling when the plane clipped his motor home, Doyle Jones said: "I saw the (plane's) shadow first. Then it hit, and I immediately pulled to the left. It was like a big boom.
"If he had hit the back of the motor home, he would have taken me out," Doyle Jones added.
The white plane had substantial damage ---- Nicholson said it appeared to be totaled ---- but the motor home amazingly only had a dent in the roof, allowing the Joneses to continue their trek to Las Vegas.
Arms crossed, looking from a distance at the damage to his aircraft, Nicholson seemed to be taking the situation in stride. "It's just one more situation to get into and out of," he said.
This wasn't the first time Nicholson has survived a crash landing unscathed.
While flying U.S. Army fighter planes in World War II, Nicholson crash landed in England. "That one was a little more dramatic," he said, sporting a grin.
All told, Nicholson said he has about 2,500 flight hours, including about 40 hours in the experimental craft that crashed.
His experience paid off Monday as evidenced by the ability to bring the powerless craft to the ground without injury to himself or others.
Nicholson said he knew he was in trouble when he smelled oil and the pressure gauge started to plunge.
"I was halfway between airports and really had nowhere to go," he said. So he turned around, hoping to make it back to Chino as he followed I-15 north.
But then the engine seized from lack of oil, he said, leaving him only the ability to glide to a stop.
"(Freeway) traffic was pretty heavy," Nicholson said. "My goal was to land the plane somewhere without breaking it."
Unfortunately, that didn't happen and the plane won't be replaced, he said.
"Based on what I've seen, I expect it's about time for me to change my life," Nicholson said. "This is just too much work for what you get out of it."
He said he'll do some thinking and come up with a new hobby, but has no idea yet what that might be.
California Highway Patrol officers kept the freeway's two left lanes closed until just after 2 p.m. when all lanes were reopened.
Staff photographer David Carlson contributed to this report. Contact staff writer John Hall at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.
12/31/02
Flight controllers suspected something was amiss when they observed that the plane's left-hand turn signal had been left on for the last 50-miles of the plane's flight.
As one of my flight instructors used to say, "Nobody has ever left one up there."
Maybe he should try stock car racing. It doesn't take 12 years to build one and the end result is about the same.
I once ferried a Piper Dakota after it crash landed in a corn field. The corn was hard as hammers. All the leading edges were reskinned and I flew it out from the road along the field. The FAA issues a permit to ferry in such cases. The damage to the crop was in the $80,000 range. The airplane had about $20,000 in damage. Had the guy landed on the same road I took off from, the only damage would have been from media coverage.
At night, always take the road.
One of the more enlightening o-rides a neophyte can have is going aloft at night, the pilot posing the question, "Where would we want to land if the engine quit?" A subsequent flight over the same terrain in daylight points out the power lines, cellular towers, trees, bluffs, flotsam and general jetsam.
When I was part of an aerostat launch/recovery crew, avoidance of crop damage was second only to personal safety in the hierarchy of concerns. A clumsy pilot can make a farmer's year.
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