BELFAST, Maine — The single-engine Cessna that made an emergency crash-landing on Route 52 in Belfast on Tuesday night was in bad shape the next day as a crew worked to disassemble its broken fuselage and mangled wings.
But the good news is that flight instructor Nathan Jordan, 31, of Ellsworth and his 17-year-old student were not hurt, according to officials who went to the scene after the crash.
“The licensed pilot did an absolutely remarkable job,” said Chief Mike McFadden of the Belfast Police Department. “He was the hero of the day. He saved his own life and the life of that 17-year-old student with the way he maneuvered the plane.”
Efforts Wednesday to reach Jordan were unsuccessful.
The plane had taken off from the Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport in Trenton and was en route to Portland with the student at the controls when it began experiencing engine problems about 8 p.m., McFadden said.
The duo figured out that the Belfast Municipal Airport was the closest to them, and they prepared to make an unscheduled landing, but couldn’t get the runway lights activated.
“They overshot the runway because they couldn’t see it,” he said.
Then the plane lost all power in the engine and lost altitude while heading toward Route 1, the busy coastal thoroughfare. Jordan veered over a car that was driving toward Route 1 but couldn’t avoid hitting a telephone pole on Route 52.
“He sheared the right wing off and caused the plane to catapult down,” McFadden said.
The Cessna landed upside down, partially on Route 52 and partially on the sidewalk.
Several people called police to let them know about the crash, and when first responders arrived it looked bad.
“There was fuselage on the sidewalk and shrapnel from the wing in the road,” McFadden said. “Fuel was leaking out from the ruptured tank on that right wing.”
Police were joined by the Belfast Fire Department and the Belfast Ambulance, whose responders checked out Jordan and the teenage student and determined that they weren’t injured. Firefighters worked to contain the fuel spill before the 10 or 15 gallons could get into storm drains, McFadden said.
They also shut Route 52 down for 2½ hours while officials worked to get in touch with the Federal Aviation Administration. Federal agents recommended that emergency responders turn the plane over and get it out off the road.
“We literally pushed the plane down the middle of the road,” McFadden said.
They parked it at nearby Walsh Field where David Vroom, president and chief pilot of Maine Coastal Flight flying school, paced around it the next day as workers from Columbia Air Service of Trenton began to dismantle it.
Vroom said officials from the FAA visited Wednesday to examine the crashed plane. He said he didn’t want to speculate as to the cause of the mechanical malfunction.
“The FAA has to figure that out,” he said.
That agency would notify the National Transportation Safety Board about the crash, he said.
Vroom said that Jordan did a “very good job” in the air.
Another flying student, Jake Fleming of Belfast, watched for a while Wednesday afternoon as the dismantling progressed. He said that he has been taking lessons for a couple of years with Maine Scenic Airways in Belfast, and the sight of the totaled plane wasn’t too off-putting.
“Flying is fantastic. It’s exciting,” he said. “You see a crash like this — they made it. They lived. They saved their lives. The plane is expendable.”
A dead stick landing, in the dark, on a highway and avoiding cars? Indeed–an incredible job!
Good thing he had the lasagna.
Outstanding job
I fly with Nate regularly. He’s a professional in every way.
Cessna skyhawk has an amazing safety record. One reason they haven’t changed much in the last 50 years. The new ones have more gadgets on the dashboard.
The 172 is a great plane. I learned on a 172RG. But, while it is a great plane, it is time to move on. There are so many advances we need to take advantage of. Better engines, a ballistic recovery system, GPS with terrain avoidance, push-rod controls, and far more reliability.
One of the reasons the 172 hasn’t changed is because it is so incredibly expensive to get a new airframe certified, or even modified, by the FAA. Do recall that we went from an annual production of 17,000 personal aircraft (combined manufacturers) down to 7 (yes, 7) airplanes per year, due to onerous civil lawsuits. The day the limited-liability laws were signed into law, Piper Aircraft announced it was back in the small airplane business. They, and other manufacturers, have done a great job since then.
Still, the costs for a new 172 are ridiculous – just shy of $300,000 before taxes. What do you get for that? 57 year old technology with a new panel and new paint, and a “spritely” max cruise of (yawn!) 122 ktas. It used to cost $10,000 to overhaul each engine on my Seneca. Now, it’s $22,000 each to do this. I’d rather slap on a couple of Northstar V8’s with more horsepower and better reliability. When was the last time you had to manually adjust the mixture on your car when you drove up Cadillac Mountain? Don’t forget, these engines still use 100LL – (low-lead). Leaded fuel in this day and age? And, checking today’s prices, it is $6.07/gallon! Burning probably 12 gallons/hour. This, alone, is reason enough to move forward.
My pet peeve: Using air vents for air conditioning? You’d think for $300k, you would get air-conditioning, but you don’t.
Go try a Socatta TB20. It’s only 30 years old. That is one-step forward. There are many more. The 172 is a great plane but so was the Studebaker a great car.
That should be a new question on the driving permit test: “You are traveling down the road and encounter a moving airplane. Who has the right-of-way?”
PS thank you for not taking up the handicapped spot w/ the plane. I hate it when able bodied pilots do that. :|
A correction in the BDN’s account…..the plane did NOT land upside down. It landed on its wheels and then flipped over.
It is said by all the “old pilots”: Any landing you can walk away from IS A GOOD ONE!
Good job by the pilot. The FAA will determine the cause of the failure of the plane itself. I wonder if the FAA will also investigate why the lights failed to operate at the airport.
Has to be activated by the plane which in this case had electrical problems. Not the airport at fault.
It is if the problem has persisted for a period of time and has been ignored.
faa pays good money for the maintenance of small airports they expect it to be kept operational.
And your accusation is based on what? Ignored by whom? Your first sentence doesn’t even make sense. It is if……?
And public officials NEVER ignore problems that seem minor to them do they? Yes I said “If”. And it does happen in this state. It may have been coincidental and it may have been a problem ignored, that is what an investigation is for.
Great job by the pilot. Very good news that neither he nor the student were injured.
I remember coming home after a similar crash years ago, looking at my family and only then starting to shake over what I had almost lost. It took a few flights to start feeling comfortable in the air again. Training and vigilance are key. CFI Jordan did a great job and should be commended, and I hope his student will continue flying.
Good show when the chips were down.