Emergency landing at Meigs Sunday

"Henry Kisor" wrote in message
news:TU7Va.164284$ye4.111218@sccrnsc01...
From this morning's Chicago Sun-Times:

Plane in trouble lands safely at Meigs
July 28, 2003

BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL AND LUCIO GUERRERO Staff Reporters

It appears some folks still think Meigs Field is an airport.

A small plane in trouble landed at the shuttered airstrip Sunday,
startling
lakeside visitors and security. It's the second time this month that an
aircraft has used the former lakefront airport for an emergency landing.

The plane landed amid rubble churned up by Mayor Daley's closure of Meigs
after coming within 20 feet of the beach house roof at 12th Street Beach,
witnesses said.

The two people inside the single-engine Piper aircraft were attempting to
fly to an air show in Oshkosh, Wis., said Chicago police Sgt. Jerry Clancy
of the Summer Mobile Unit.

"They lost radio contact--they weren't sure what happened,'' Clancy said.

The fliers suspected their alternator failed, he said.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane is
registered to a Maine company and the aircraft had taken off early Sunday
from Jackson, Mich. The pilot told the FAA that he had to make the
emergency
landing because of poor weather and electrical problems on board the
plane.

Clancy said the pair hit bad weather north of Meigs and decided to turn
around and land.

He said he witnessed "a nice, smooth landing.''

Witnesses said it was obvious the plane was in trouble.

"We saw it wobbling,'' said Joann Caccamo, 29, a production assistant from
Plainfield who was visiting Chicago's lakefront. "He was really shaky.''

"It was scary,'' she said. "We actually expected to see flames.''

Caccamo and her friends said they first noticed the plane because of the
noises it was making.

"Like sputtering, like engine problems,'' said Kitty McDonnell, 36, a
mortgage loan officer from Aurora.

The plane was flying north and then doubled back, they said. As the pilot
flew south, he flew low over the 12th Street Beach house, witnesses said.

"We thought he was going to hit the roof,'' McDonnell said.

Mayor Daley closed Meigs in the middle of the night March 30, citing
terrorism concerns. But earlier this month, a helicopter pilot brought his
craft down at Meigs after thinking he hit a bird.

As for Sunday's fliers, who are not thought to be linked to any terrorist
groups, they are on their way back east.

"They just want to go home,'' Clancy said.


My favorite line:

"...Sunday's fliers, who are not thought to be linked to any terrorist
groups..." Geez. It's embarassing that they even found it necessary to
include a ridiculous line like that.

And if there have already been TWO emergency landings this month so far,
then maybe someone will notice that we are actually serious when we site
saftey concerns with closing the airport. This last incident could have
turned out very different, had there not been a relatively safe and
well-known place to land.