No injuries when plane slides off runway
Published 6:00 am Monday, March 13, 2006
There were no injuries in a minor mishap at the BrookhavenMunicipal Airport Sunday when landing gear collapsed on a 1948Swift 145 two-seater passenger plane, according to airportofficials.
Clifford Britt, airport manager, said the two pilots handled thesituation well. The plane slid off the runway into a marshy areaafter the collapse. A trackhoe was used to set the plane on atrailer and move it onto the airport tarmac, he said.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of damage to the plane. It was just ahard landing. They both walked away,” Britt said.
Neither Britt nor Paul Barnett, who was at the airport at thetime of the mishap, could identify the pilots. The two pilots werereturning home to California after purchasing the plane, theysaid.
“They didn’t leave their names and the plane’s registration isstill in the previous owner’s name,” Barnett said.
Barnett made arrangements for the pilots to spend the night inBrookhaven and said they caught a flight home from the Jacksonairport this morning.