18-year-old pilot makes emergency landing on Ocean City bridge
Last edited Mon Jul 19, 2021, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Philly Voice
A small plane pulling a banner at the Jersey Shore made an emergency landing Monday afternoon on the Ninth Street Bridge in Ocean City. No one was injured, and no damage was done when the plane landed in the road between Ocean City and Somers Point, according to Officer Doug Bergen of the Ocean City Police Department. Emergency crews responded to the scene just after 12:30 p.m.
The pilot, Landon Lucas, told authorities that the plane began having engine trouble while he was flying near Steel Pier in Atlantic City. The 18-year-old, who was flying for Paramount Air Service, released the plane's banner into the ocean. He was headed toward Ocean City Municipal Airport when he noticed a gap in traffic on the westbound lanes of the Route 52 causeway, Bergen said.
After the plane's unorthodox but smooth landing, crews worked to remove its wings and will tow it away, police said. An investigation into the cause of the emergency landing is underway.
As of 2 p.m., both bridge lanes into Ocean City had reopened to traffic, and a single outbound lane was open.
Read more: https://www.phillyvoice.com/ocean-city-plane-emergency-landing-bridge-new-jersey/
This is the Ocean City in New Jersey. Who says 18 year olds can't be responsible!
Link to tweet
TEXT
@ItsJoeyRichard
Plane crash on Ocean City, New Jersey bridge. @6abc @CBSPhilly @FOX29philly #oceancity #nj
12:54 PM · Jul 19, 2021
PSPS
(13,621 posts)COL Mustard
(5,936 posts)Always aim for the center of the runway.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)sense landing on the bridge instead of risking landing in the water.
twodogsbarking
(9,844 posts)He sold it when he got married.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)One of the students bought a used Piper Cub real cheap, re-covered the wings and did a lot of
work on it, finally getting it certified. He got his pilot's license and last I heard (years ago) he flew it
up and down the Columbia River Gorge (east of Portland, Oregon).
I tried a few flight lessons but found out I wasn't cut out for that. It's good to learn these things!
Laffy Kat
(16,389 posts)Those are especially challenging. Good job!
sheshe2
(83,967 posts)Good landing and good judgement.
Turbineguy
(37,375 posts)I've been told.
cloudbase
(5,525 posts)the plane can be reused.
marble falls
(57,355 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)that Jersey drivers think they have a single front nose wheel on their cars and make sure they drive directly down the center of the dashed line separating 2 lanes on a street. This must be why.
paleotn
(17,989 posts)Now that's being curious.
skydive forever
(447 posts)I once landed right in the middle of I-95 when my engine seized up. It's amazing how focused you can get when the engine get really quiet.
cloudbase
(5,525 posts)They sure begin to sweat when it stops turning.
mitch96
(13,929 posts)Lying's legal! Great fun...
m
cloudbase
(5,525 posts)No alcohol, no drugs, just a bunch of liars sitting around telling stories.
Know the difference between a fairy tale and a pilot's story?
The fairy tale starts "Once upon a time."
When a pilot tells a story, it starts "Now this ain't no shit."
mitch96
(13,929 posts)Little grass strip in Western Connecticut ,Owned by four airline pilots. 3 commercial and one private jet jock. Great bunch of guys. Our tow pilot was a secretary who worked for Pan Am during the week and did tow's on the weekends... (I'm dating myself). She flew that little Supercub like a sports car.. 2000 feet and release. She would sprial down in an almost spin, pull out and drop it in as light as a feather.
More fun than a guy should have with his pants up..
m
George II
(67,782 posts)....down to about 30 MPH or even slower.
Wicked Blue
(5,859 posts)debsy
(530 posts)Or maybe he is just an old-looking 18-year-old. Either way, it was a good solution to a complex problem that I sure as heck wouldn't have wanted to be in!
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)I did a 400% zoom of this pic in my browser and if you do a closeup of his face (despite the receding hair line), you can see he is an "older" teen-looking guy in the face - just a big boy is all. He's tall.
(used to call that type "corn fed" )
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)(article was from a couple years ago)
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer Aug 9, 2010 Updated Jun 20, 2019
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP The flight attire is shorts and T-shirts, with sunglasses for when the small airplane rises quickly to the sky from takeoff at Paramount Air Services grass runway. Stefan Stercula, 21, spends mornings in the hangar doing a once-over inspection of the steel-framed, lightweight plane with fabric cover and no doors. This is his 150-horsepower office for the summer as a banner pilot. Flying the airborne advertisements ubiquitous over any beach in southern New Jersey is largely a youth-driven occupation, a summer job in the sky.
The routes can be somewhat monotonous over the course of the summer, tracing towns shorelines with messages about Fosters specials, $15 sunset dinners and the occasional marriage proposal. But for the Paramount pilots, many of whom are college students or recent graduates, the positions offer afternoons soaring through the sky and the experience or flight hours that may help them land their next job. This is probably the best way to go for a low-time pilot, said Stercula, a senior aviation major at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, who expects to log several hundred hours this summer.
For a low-time pilot, just getting that many hours is huge because theres no other place to get it that quickly. The pay is good: $20 to $30 per hour, based on a pilots experience. Most pilots can expect to work between 200 and 400 hours a summer. I was looking for anything to get around planes, said Stercula, of West Chester, Pa., whose family has a summer home in Stone Harbor. This is Sterculas second year as a banner pilot.
Pilots come here from across the country, from Indiana to Oregon and locally. Paramount is the only banner plane company based out of Cape May County, although two national companies Van Wagner Outdoor Advertising and High Exposure Aerial Advertising fly along the New Jersey shore. Hours are resume-boosters to pilots. The more flight experience they log in the cockpit, the better their job prospects look to future employers. Many young pilots have aspirations of working for private charter companies or airlines. After the summer, Sean Van Hatten, 20, of Redmond, Ore., who has an associates degree in aviation, is considering going to Alaska to find pilot work.
(snip)
More: https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/young-pilots-log-hours-build-resumes-flying-banner-planes-in-southern-new-jersey/article_d4e65e3e-a373-11df-9f2d-001cc4c03286.html
I didn't realize they fly low and grab the banner with a hook and continue on up with it. I just assumed they laid the banner on a runway somewhere and then took off with it like a kite.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Reply #19)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
brush
(53,925 posts)When you're no longer considered a low-hour pilot?
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)Apparently "500 hours" is the general threshold and the above link gave some examples of types of positions someone with less than 500 hours could do to gain hours.
So if you have young college students doing this - they could work 20 hours/week for 12 weeks (i.e., 3 months during the summer) and get 240 hours flight time.
I don't know how long those banner planes are up in the air (or can stay in the air before needing to refuel - might be dependent on the model of plane) for each run, but I did a quick search and saw that companies will charge for distance/time, apparently with 1 - 3 hour flight times being offered (which will then determine the cost for the ad).
Whole 'nother world for me!
brush
(53,925 posts)TNNurse
(6,929 posts)It was a landing.
forgotmylogin
(7,539 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)and just to confirm for you, a follow-up article in the Inquirer one said it was a 1946 J3 (the caption for the pics and other references listed the vintage).
"There was a gap in traffic, and I went in." A nonchalant Landon Lucas described the 30 seconds after the engine in his 1946 failed when he made the decision to land on the bridge.
by Amy S. Rosenberg
Updated Jul 21, 2021
(snip)
In fact, the Piper J3 aircraft made of aluminum and steel, covered in a heat-shrunk Dacron, will be repaired and flown again, said mechanic Joe McSherry, probably next week. The specific issue was a broken weld in an airbox. Its only missing a few key components, Lucas joked.
(snip)
Lucas, who has an associates degree in aviation from Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., said the trouble began over the Ocean Casino in Atlantic City, when the engine rolled back to idle out of nowhere. It had already been a rough morning, he said. It was windy, bumpy, you had updrafts in the water, the winds were coming through the casinos, he said. You had turbulence there. It wasnt a pleasant day in Atlantic City. He ditched the banner (an ad for the Steel Pier) and decided to head for the Ocean City Municipal Airfield at 25th and the Bay, the nearest actual airport. He bypassed Bader Field, the old municipal airport just outside Atlantic City, because I still had marginal engine power, enough to sustain altitude.
I thought if I at least had that I would aim for the airport, he said. Its a lot easier to aim for the airport and actually take off again than to land in an abandoned airport or a highway. The intention was not to land in a bridge in the first place. His decision, he said, came within 30 seconds of the engine completely failing. I was shooting straight in to the approach in Ocean City, he recalled. The engine completely failed. I wasnt going to make the airport, and I landed on the bridge. At that point in time, I saw a gap in traffic, he said. Asked how big the gap was, he said: Big enough. He was able to get to the side of the road and avoid the light poles, and no cars came near him until he was stopped.
The 2.2-mile bridge, he noted, actually gave him plenty of runway. The width of the westbound lanes, barrier to barrier, is 39 feet. The wingspan of the tiny plane is 35 feet, McSherry said. Lucas played down the daring of the landing. I was trained, he said. I knew how to do it. I attempted Ocean City, and didnt make it. Whats going to kill you is getting scared. The biggest challenge was avoiding the lights, he said. If the lights werent there there would be no challenge, he said. Parts break. Parts move. Theres a lot of vibration. Theres a lot of stress on the parts. A ton of wind. Youre sitting over the ocean. Youre at risk for rust, all that kind of thing. Youre over salt water. Things break. You have to be prepared for when that happens.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/pilot-banner-plane-landon-lucas-ocean-city-bridge-20210721.html
Link to tweet
TEXT
@amysrosenberg
Pilot Landon Lucas, 18, describes the words he screamed at the top of my lungs after successfully landing his banner plane on the Ocean City bridge Monday.
😭
10:15 AM · Jul 21, 2021
He was back up in the air yesterday -
Link to tweet
TEXT
@amysrosenberg
Up up and away, Landon Lucas begins another banner plane route, two days after his landing on the Ocean City bridge. Hes towing a Cape May National Golf banner if you want to wave at him from the beach.
11:11 AM · Jul 21, 2021
George II
(67,782 posts)....that most small plane catastrophes are caused by panic.
A plane like that can glide about a mile for every 1,000 feet of altitude, and by adjusting trim and flaps it can slow down to something like 30 mph.
That's plenty of time, without panic, to make a reasonably safe landing. One can actually land in an empty area of a mall parking lot.
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)This guy had that mindset too - "fear" would make things worse. You just do it. Of course it helps to be trained (and practice) the basics and have that kick in.
turbinetree
(24,726 posts)because he should be commended also to help this young man think through the issue at hand and to take the situation and not panic and do it.....and he walked away and he did not damage the plane.....that is a pilot in command of the situation.....
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)Article - https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/young-pilots-log-hours-build-resumes-flying-banner-planes-in-southern-new-jersey/article_d4e65e3e-a373-11df-9f2d-001cc4c03286.html
They basically recruit young pilots to train and the job also obviously gives them the opportunity to gain flight hours.
The older gentleman in the foreground in the below pic is the founder of the company -
turbinetree
(24,726 posts)I go to the shore almost every weekend and see these pilots and planes...and again kudo's to the instructor and that young man for what he did...
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)when going down the shore (as they say), it was always cool to see those planes. Over the years, I have seen a few banner planes flying over Philly too.
But I never knew the mechanics of how those planes actually hook the banner onto the rear of the plane! It's almost the same principle as how fighter jets land on aircraft carriers - using some vertical cable with a hook on the rear of the plane that snags a horizontal cable on the ground or deck.
turbinetree
(24,726 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)Can't believe I was watching that in one stream and watching the polar opposite - the Blue Origin about to launch in another stream.
jmowreader
(50,567 posts)How did an 18-year-old manage to put together the 250 hours seat time he needed for his Commercial certificate?
BumRushDaShow
(129,663 posts)Apparently this company focuses on young pilots (who come from all over the country) and it's possible this guy may be currently 18 but turning 19 this year (there's not much bio info on him that I could find) and had initial experience at that company last year, where a summer of training flights would provide that many hours -
For a low-time pilot, just getting that many hours is huge because theres no other place to get it that quickly. The pay is good: $20 to $30 per hour, based on a pilots experience. Most pilots can expect to work between 200 and 400 hours a summer. I was looking for anything to get around planes, said Stercula, of West Chester, Pa., whose family has a summer home in Stone Harbor. This is Sterculas second year as a banner pilot.
Pilots come here from across the country, from Indiana to Oregon and locally. Paramount is the only banner plane company based out of Cape May County, although two national companies Van Wagner Outdoor Advertising and High Exposure Aerial Advertising fly along the New Jersey shore.
Hours are resume-boosters to pilots. The more flight experience they log in the cockpit, the better their job prospects look to future employers. Many young pilots have aspirations of working for private charter companies or airlines. After the summer, Sean Van Hatten, 20, of Redmond, Ore., who has an associates degree in aviation, is considering going to Alaska to find pilot work.
What's interesting is that this is one of those "hidden treasure" type of places for wannabe pilots who are opting to NOT get experience through military service (which I expect is where the bulk of commercial pilots may have obtained experience).
COL Mustard
(5,936 posts)If you fly on weekends, it can add up fairly quickly.