THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230420
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET TALEV, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
When the single engine on the low-flying Cessna 207 died, tour pilot Dave Petersen figured he had less than 30 seconds to bring a Virginia family of five down safely.
He was losing altitude fast as he scanned the tourist-packed Outer Banks beaches for a spot to land. Vacationers blanketed the sand. And nearby U.S. Route 158 is notorious for its weekend bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Meanwhile, Margaret Bradley was looking straight ahead as she drove her white 1991 Oldsmobile south down the highway Saturday afternoon toward her son's house in Wanchese.
If Bradley was lucky, she'd hear the first 15 minutes of her favorite radio show while traveling through the traffic.
If Petersen was lucky, he'd find somewhere to land the plane.
He spotted a gap in the traffic. He decided the highway was the safest place to land. But forced to dodge power lines, his timing was a bit off the mark.
The white and blue Cessna's wheels landed on Bradley's car - first on the trunk, then the roof, then the hood - before the plane rolled off the car, onto the road, off the road and through a speed-limit sign. It stopped on a patch of grass.
``I was cruising along at the speed limit, then all of a sudden this plane just crashed in on my car,'' Bradley said Monday from her home in Kill Devil Hills.
``I never did get to hear that radio show. When that thing hit me, it was just like a bomb. All of my windows started shattering right away. When the wheels started crawling up on my car and I saw the wheel, I thought maybe a boat had broken loose from a trailer.
``When I stopped my car, a couple of girls were opening my door to make sure I was all right. I said, `What hit me?' and when they said it was an airplane, I was flabbergasted.''
The Virginia family in the plane was equally stunned.
``All of a sudden it became quiet. But I could see no reaction from the pilot so I just assumed it was normal procedure,'' said Robyn Johnson of Richmond, who had been getting an aerial view of the Outer Banks with her husband, Dennis, and three children, Ian, 15, Molly, 13, and Trevor, 8. It was the children's first time in a plane.
``He turned inland and I still did not know that anything was horribly wrong. Then he headed for the highway. I remember it seemed that we were parallel to the high-tension wires. My husband said, `Why are we flying so low?' and that's when the pilot said, `I'm trying to save your lives.' ''
Petersen, who has flown Kitty Hawk Aero Tours planes for two summers, said: ``I did my preflight check. Everything was in the green when I was cruising down the beach.''
The plane was ``inspected about a week ago, and it was deemed worthy of flight,'' Petersen said, adding that it didn't run out of gas, either.
``Losing your engine on a single-engine plane is probably the worst thing that could happen,'' he said. ``You're basically a glider after that.''
Bradley might not know the difference between the two. She's never flown in an airplane and doesn't plan to start. ``If someone told me I would be involved in a plane crash, I would say they were foolish. I was shaken up quite a bit.''
Kitty Hawk Aero Tours owner Jay Mankedick said the engine failure was the company's first in its 17 years. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, he said.
Petersen ``did an excellent job, keeping from getting everybody killed,'' Nags Head Fire Chief Doug Remaley said.
``We're just so grateful to that pilot,'' Johnson said. ``He was marvelous. He never panicked.''
The day after the accident, she said: ``My 8-year-old said, `You know I just can't stop thinking about that plane,' and I said, `I know, it's all I can think about too.'
``There was a quietness and a reflectiveness. . . . I don't know if you've ever had that kind of experience. Neither had I. But when you do, it makes you stop and think.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Color photo
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB