Posted on 05/17/2005 6:27:40 PM PDT by wjersey
Karen Mullin kept looking out her window in Atlantic City yesterday, stealing glances at the giant crane poised over the bay to pluck a plane out of the water.
After this weekend, Mullin wasn't taking any chances.
According to authorities and neighbors, a Danish-registered jet was making its second attempt at landing at Atlantic City's small Bader Field about 4:30 p.m. Sunday when it zoomed past the bulkhead at the end of the runway and splashed into the waterway called Beach Thorofare.
The airfield is not big enough for jets.
State police said the pilot told them that the braking system had failed.
Pilot Erik Larson, 61, copilot Toft Jesper, 40, and passengers Mette Tottrup and Louise Anderson, both 20, were pulled from the water by boaters. They were treated for minor injuries at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center and released.
The four, all from Denmark, had left Burlington, Vt., about 2:45 p.m. in a 10-passenger Cessna Citation. Similar in size to a Lear jet, the Citation is small by jet standards but much larger than the single-engine craft permitted at Bader Field.
Larson and his companions were headed to a casino for a convention, state police said.
The flight plan indicated that the pilot had planned to land at Atlantic City International Airport, which can handle jets, said Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
It was not clear whether Larson had mistaken Bader Field for the much larger airport, which is about 10 miles inland. That is one question that authorities will ask him, said Jill Andrews, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane was registered to the Danish electronics company Weibel Scientific, but state police said Larson was the owner.
Salac said it was not known whether sanctions would be taken against Larson. Because of the density of the surrounding area and the runway's size - 2,948 feet long, 100 feet wide - Bader Field "is closed to jet traffic," she said.
Mullin, who lives close to Bader Field, was in her living room late Sunday afternoon. Her husband, George, was out on the dock.
When George Mullin, who she said had made three previous rescues of water-stranded pilots, looked at a windsock, he saw the wind was coming in.
They heard the plane fly by once, she said; it aborted one pass at a landing and flew low over the nearby Flyers Skate Zone and the Sandcastle minor-league baseball stadium, where the Atlantic City Surf were playing the Somerset Patriots.
"My husband said: 'What is this guy doing? He's coming in too fast. He's never going to make it,' " Karen Mullin said.
Then, she said, the jet aimed for Bader Field again.
"My husband knew the runway wasn't long enough. The pilot hit the brakes a couple of times, and he just kind of belly-flopped" into the water, she said.
She heard her husband screaming and called 911.
Her husband and a neighbor, Joe Clark, jumped in Clark's boat and got to Larson, who wanted to make sure the door on the aircraft was closed.
"He wanted to keep it afloat," Mullin said.
After Larson was in the boat, smoke and flames shot out of the plane. The engine started.
It was a surreal scene - her husband and neighbor in a boat rescuing a stranger, an unmanned plane on fire, and its jets running in the water.
"I was on the dock with my sons, and it took a turn toward us. Firefighters told us to evacuate. I got my kids, grabbed the dog, and got outside," she said.
But the saltwater took care of the fire, and no damage was done.
Overnight, the plane got stuck on a sandbar. Crews waited for the tide to come in yesterday morning and guided the jet back to Bader Field.
In the afternoon, a crane arrived and removed the plane to a hangar, where, Andrews said, it will be examined for signs of mechanical failure.
Mullin said she was still trying to shake her sense of fear.
"My 13-year-old son was leery about sleeping in the back bedroom," she said. "I woke up in the middle of the night."
Pilot in need of training on the correct place to land and how to follow tower directions.
Where I trained, Hartford, CT; pilots frequently would attempt to land at a private airport in East Hartford called Ressellaer. Frankly, a much nicer looking airfield.
Bader Field Atlantic City and Atlantic City International aren't exactly close. Rather remote from one another.
Rensselaer, rather.
What's in a name?
So a 60 and a 40 year old guy are taking a pair of 20 year olds to a convention in Atlantic City eh?
How do I get that job?
... Bader Field “is closed to jet traffic” ...
It doesn’t count if they leave out, “this means you.”
;-)
People here called the C-150 pilot in Washington stupid. Wonder what they will call these two professionals?
They may have closed the airport to jets because of noise, but a 2,948 ft runway is not necessarily too short for this jet.
It was reported that this jet is a Citation II. The Citation II was re-badged as the Citation Bravo.
From: http://bravo.cessna.com/performance.chtml
Landing specs for the Citation Bravo are from 2,140 ft. to 3,180 ft. depending on weight.
The longest runway is only 3000 ft, which is pretty short for a jet. It seems hard to confuse the two airfields at Atlantic City, though -- they're a ways away from each other.
Is there just the one main Atlantic City airport? I sure don't remember a CRANE........LOL.
Make lots of money. I doubt if it was employment -- more likely recreation.
"Used jet. Some water damage."
There's a bigger International airport further inland, and this one. A bit like Chicago, with O'Hare and Miegs Field (before the city stole it).
A 3,000 ft rollout on a 2,900 ft runway.... 'missed it by that much'.
Mette Tottrup
Have you met Mette ... yet?
LOL
I'll be kind... maybe they just lost a letter. Could it have been
Boy-Jet?
Coy-Jet?
Goy-Jet?
Joy-Jet?
Soy-Jet?
Toy-Jet?
Oy vey. Better just simply leave it at Oy-Jet.
I guess this gives a new meaning to going 'feet wet'...
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