‘It was not a crash, it was an emergency landing’
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
A pilot experiencing technical difficulties landed a plane safely on the roadway on Lady’s Island late Monday night, July 31.
According to Beaufort Executive Airport Manager Eric Townsend, around 11 p.m., 19-year-old flight instructor Edison Rivers and his student, 18-year-old Ian Szczepek, were flying in a 1964 Cessna 172F on approach to the airport, which is controlled by MCAS Beaufort, when the pilot reported they were having engine trouble.
Rivers was able avoid power lines and safely land the plane near the intersection of Sea Island Parkway on Lady’s Island Drive, near the Publix Super Market.
“It was not a crash, it was an emergency landing,” Townsend said. “Everybody walked away just fine, the plane was in tact.”
There were no injuries. After the landing, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office notified Townsend that a plane had landed in the roadway, and the plane was towed back to Beaufort Executive Airport, less than a mile and a half away.
The plane is owned by Beaufort Flight Training, where Rivers is an instructor.
Townsend said the flight was a situation where the student was getting night flight training, required by the FAA to earn a pilot’s license, and emphasized the pilot did did a “fantastic job,” a sentiment echoed by Beaufort Flight Training President James Atkins.
“He did a hell of a job,” Atkins said.
“He knew the highway was there. Good pilots know their options if the engine quits,” Atkins said. “They were coming in parallel to it. When the engine quit, he just saw the highway there, knew where the power lines were there, and he just put it down safely. He still had control of the airplane.”
Atkins said Rivers is a fully qualified instructor at 19 years old, and Szczepek is a senior in high school.
“What’s neat about this … both are partially through their qualifications to become pilots for the airlines. We’re training pilots for professional careers,” he said. “We’re a thorough program. (The power failure) was an anomaly. Sometimes it happens, but pilots are trained to anticipate these situations. Rivers performed phenomenally.”
The Cessna 172F is a fixed-wing, single-engine, piston aircraft that seats a pilot and up to three passengers. Atkins said they didn’t know yet why the plane had lost power.
“We’re still looking at that,” he said. “It’s being investigated by our maintenance contractor.”
While there might be questions about the plane, Atkins is confident in his pilot.
“(He’s) going to start flying again tomorrow,” he said. “Safety and proficiency is our objective, and we want to train the next generation of aviators.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
