OWLS HEAD, Maine — Knox County Regional Airport Manager Jeffrey Northgraves said a pilot made an amazing landing after his plane was damaged in takeoff Thursday afternoon.
Stephen Morrison II of Rockland said he was taking off with his father, Stephen Morrison Sr., also of Rockland, for an afternoon flight on a beautiful day when a puff of wind hit his Piper Cub single-engine plane.
“I fly a very light plane, maybe 700 pounds, and this puff of wind struck, and the plane got away from me,” Morrison said.
When the plane veered slightly to his left off the main runway on takeoff, the right landing gear struck a VASI (visual approach slope indicator) light. The lights are located about five feet from the paved runway and about 3 feet tall.
After the plane struck and Morrison realized that the landing gear was damaged, another problem became apparent. The hand-held radio he carried with him was not working for a reason he did not know.
Morrison flew low by the airport and yelled out the door to someone on the ground to have fire trucks and an ambulance respond in the event they were needed.
He then flew low by a grassy area to indicate to the people on the ground where he planned to land. The fire trucks and ambulance then arrived and positioned themselves near that location.
He was in the air for about 20 minutes.
The plane came down, and he relied on the left landing gear until the plane slowed down. The right landing gear then came to rest on the ground and dug into the dirt, causing the plane to make a complete 180 degree turn.
Morrison and his father were uninjured.
“The landing was just amazing,” Northgraves said. “There were a lot of high fives after he and his father got out of the plane.”
The plane was towed to a hangar. He said he did not know the extent of damage. The propeller also was damaged in the landing.
Northgraves said that the Federal Aviation Administration will send a representative to the airport to look into the matter.
Morrison said he was grateful for the response from emergency personnel and everybody on the ground.
“Accidents happen, that’s why they call them accidents,” he said.