GCSU firefighter responds to airplane landing on 441
The idea of making an emergency aircraft landing on a highway is not apparently just for big-budget Hollywood movies. In fact, a plane was landed on Milledgeville’s own U.S. 441 bypass this past weekend.
Members of the Baldwin County Fire Department, sheriff’s office and Emergency Medical Services responded to the emergency call at about 5 p.m. on Friday to control the situation and the flow of traffic around it.
“At first we were all under the assumption that the plane was still in the air,” said Baldwin County Fire Rescue volunteer and sophomore criminal justice major Nathan Bressler. “But when we arrived on scene the plane had already landed.”
The landing, which took place on the bypass between Ga. 49 and Allen Memorial Drive, happened due to a mechanical problem within the plane. The pilot was in no way at fault, according to Baldwin County Fire Rescue public information officer and GCSU alumnus Brandon Barth. The engine failure seemed to have happened due to leaking fluids.
The pilot of the downed aircraft, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Charles Lutin, was described as eerily calm in the aftermath of the landing. When he first realized the malfunction in his personal two-seater propeller plane on his planned trip from Warner Robbins to Raleigh, N.C., he sent an emergency radio call for authorities to close off the road. He performed his landing on the median of the bypass and finally stopped when the plane struck a guard rail on the road.
Though no one was injured during the landing, the scene was further complicated by an oil spill caused by a small puncture in a wing, which held the fuel reservoir for the plane. Fire rescue personnel cleaned up the mess caused by the oil spill.
What Bressler remembers most from the scene was the heat. Fire Rescue personnel were required to be in full firefighting uniforms while using the fuel line. With midday temperatures around Middle Georgia above the 80 degree mark, the suits made it feel much hotter to the firefighters.
The northbound lane of the highway was closed for about an hour and the scene took about three-and-a-half hours to completely clear up. After the excitement of the event was over, the plane was towed away.
“All things considered, we like to respond to exciting scenes,” Bressler said. “But we were all glad that this one was boring.”
Posted by Ryan Del Campo
on Apr 9 2010. Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
