Mar 20, 2009 9:58 pm US/Pacific
Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing On Hwy. 65
SHERIDAN, Calif. (CBS13) ―
You don't see a plane being loaded into a tow truck everyday.
But earlier today, an experimental plane headed from Yuba City to Lincoln was in an even more conspicuous spot smack dab in the middle of Hwy. 65.
According to the pilot, at about 1000 ft., the engine stopped working. That's when the pilot of the Barnett 540 gyro-plane had to make an emergency landing, bringing the plane-chopper hybrid safely down to earth.
The plane landed in the southbound lane of the highway just outside of Sheridan.
Authorities say a driver who was apparently distracted forced the plane off the road.
"A lady would not move over and let him land, so he chose to not hit her with the rotor blades, he dove over to the ditch and rolled over," said Officer Dave Montijo, CHP.
The pi lot walked away with a cut on the finger. No one else was injured in the incident.
The gyro-plane's designer, Jerrie Barnett, says the task now is to find out what caused the plane to fall out of the air.
"Whether it ran out of gas or had an electrical problem, we just don't know," said Barnett.
It'll be pretty important to figure out what brought that plane down. The designer says the army is looking into using a fully-developed version of the gyro-plane in military operations.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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