Rob Jordan, a flight instructor at Accel Aviation, has flown more than 14,000 hours in his 20-plus years in aviation.
“I guess I was due to have an engine failure at some point,” Jordan told the Register this morning.
Jordan put his years of training to handle such circumstances to work Monday afternoon as he piloted a Kitfox light sport aircraft to an emergency landing south of Iola.
Jordan and the aircraft’s owner, Ray Smith of St. Joseph, Mo., landed in a pasture in front of the home of Bill and Charlotte Owens, 1873 Idaho Rd., about three miles south of Allen County Airport.
The impact of the landing — the plane glided in at about 50 mph — snapped off the aircraft’s front landing gear.
“It wasn’t really that rough of a landing,” Jordan said. “We didn’t skid. We didn’t bounce. We just stopped.”
Jordan had flown the aircraft for the first time earlier that day, part of the precursor to train Smith so that Smith could earn his sport pilot’s license.
As is his routine, Jordan gave the aircraft a thorough inspection before flying.
“We took off the cowling, looked over the engine, checked the fuel systems,” Jordan said. “Everything checked out OK.”
Jordan then did a series of solo takeoffs and landings before Smith joined him in the cockpit for his first training flight.
The pair stuck to a short flight pattern around the airport and were set to return for landing when the engine sputtered, then stalled, just south of the Owens property.
“At that altitude, you don’t have a lot of time,” Jordan said. “My first thought was to continue to fly the plane at the right gliding speed.”
Jordan and Smith were at about 600 feet. Smith continued to try to restart the plane while Jordan sought out a place to land.
“Kansas typically is rich in places you could land an aircraft like that,” Jordan noted. “However, we were at an area where there were lots of trees and ponds. My main concern was to not hit any trees.”
They spotted the Owens property, which features a large pasture to the north, plenty long enough to land the Kitfox.
THE OWENSES were home but didn’t hear the plane come down, about 100 yards north of their house.
“We heard our dog barking, so Charlotte peeked out the window, but didn’t see anything,” Bill Owens told the Register.
That’s because a large evergreen blocked her view of the downed aircraft.
“The dogs kept barking so I walked outside, and that’s when I saw them,” he said.
“They didn’t seem to be too shaken up,” Charlotte Owens said. “They may have been a little excited. They sure were talking fast.”
Neither Jordan nor Smith were injured.
Aside from the damaged landing gear, the plane appeared to be structurally unharmed.
Federal Aviation Administration officials will conduct an investigation into the landing, Jordan said.
DESPITE THE engine failure and plethora of trees in the area, Jordan was confident that he could land the plane safely.
“It’s at that point the training kicks in,” he said. “You are so focused on what you need to do next, that you don’t have time to think about anything else. I never had any concern that it wasn’t going to end safely. There was no panic.”
Smith admitted he wasn’t as cool as Jordan.
“That was my first time in the air,” he said.
Smith co-owns the Kitfox as well as two other light sport aircraft with his father in St. Joseph. They had been preparing the Kitfox for flight for about two years prior to bringing it to Allen County so that he could be trained by Jordan to fly it.
Smith said the incident will not dissuade him from flying again.
“My worst fears are already over with now,” he said.
Jordan laughed.
“That’s the perfect response to have,” he said. “I’d flown 14,000 hours before my first engine failure. I’m hoping it’s another 14,000 hours before my next one.”
