
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991                   TAG: 9102070398
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LOST GALAX PILOT CRASH-LANDS IN N.C.

A Galax pilot who crash-landed a single-engine plane in the wake of a USAir jet in Greensboro, N.C., Monday was lost and didn't communicate with the control tower, officials said.

Harold Phipps suffered minor injuries when he brought his plane down just behind a DC-9 and crashed on the main runway at Piedmont Triad International Airport. One witness said the plane missed the tail of the DC-9 by about 10 feet.

Arlene Salac, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said Phipps was flying a Piper Cherokee 180.

Phipps made no attempt to communicate when he entered airspace controlled by the tower, she said.

USAir Flight 497 had just been cleared to land on the same runway. The flight from Washington to Greensboro had 37 passengers and five crew members.

As the DC-9 made its final approach and landed, Phipps brought his plane down behind it, Salac said. His plane was caught in the jet's wake and he lost control of it. Its landing gear crumpled and it slid off the runway.

- Associated Press

by CNB