THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110393
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WEEKSVILLE LENGTH: 58 lines
When Rita Smithson called 911 to report what she thought was some kind of ``rocket attack,'' she had no idea she would launch a media blitz.
Newspapers and television networks across the country have picked up the story of Smithson and an F-16 fighter pilot who dropped his auxiliary fuel tanks near the Weeksville woman's home on June 27.
``In this little old quiet community, it really is something,'' Smithson said Wednesday.
Today, if weather permits, Smithson will be interviewed and videotaped by a Los Angeles news program for a segment on the pilot and the unsuspecting recipient of his fuel-rejects.
``Here you have an F-16 pilot and a nice little lady and, basically, what brought them together - a couple of `missile attacks,' '' said David Jones, a researcher with ``Real TV.''
The Southern California-based program is similar to NBC's former ``I-Witness Video'' program, which featured real-life events photographed by amateurs and professionals.
A video of the emergency landing was recorded in Elizabeth City, Jones said. Now, they hope to add footage of Smithson and Capt. Chris Rose, 29, meeting for the first time.
Jones said his program first learned about Rose, of Annapolis, Md., and Smithson from a story on Cable New Network, or CNN.
``You had a real American and a real hero,'' Jones said.
Rose had been making practice runs for the Air National Guard at the Dare County Bombing Range when his jet developed engine trouble and he elected to head for the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station near Elizabeth City.
While Rose was nearing the airstrip in Weeksville, his engine apparently died and he ejected his two auxiliary fuel tanks, a standard procedure during emergency landings.
The plane safely landed at the Coast Guard base, and Rose was not injured.
Smithson said she has talked to Rose on the telephone. ``And we had a nice long talk. He wanted to apologize for scaring me half to death.''
Rose apparently planned to release the tanks in a field or over the Pasquotank River while trying to maneuver the dysfunctional aircraft.
Instead, one landed in Smithson's front yard, near a soybean field, and the other came to rest across the street in a cabbage patch.
Smithson, 64, was in her garage, getting ready to leave her house on Four Forks Road, when she heard a thunderous noise and seconds later found the two silver cylindrical objects reeking of fuel.
Smithson has lived all her life on Four Forks Road, with the past 32 years in her one-story brick home, with lilies in bloom around a bird bath.
While there is still plenty of space between most residences, that area of rural Weeksville has seen rather dramatic residential growth the past few years. Dozens of single-family homes sprout almost weekly on former farmland along Pitt Chapel, Four Forks and Peartree roads.
Other than a picture of her and Rose together, Smithson isn't sure what film crews will find to photograph.
``There's really not a whole lot to see now - wasn't a whole lot to see even then,'' she said.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB