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Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:34 AM EDT
Richard Swope Jr. of Huntington Township, Ohio, wasn't injured when his one-passenger ultralite plane landed in the river at about 5:30 p.m.
Ultralite aircraft, do not require those operating the machines to have a pilot's license, according to Kentucky State Police. But Swope is a pilot and said Monday he has flown for years.
He identified the plane as a "sky pup."
According to Swope, he had flown the plane out from his home two times that day prior to the accident. He said he took off and flew down to the Ohio Tobacco Festival in Ripley, but the parade had not yet started. Swope said he returned home before taking off again after refueling the plane.
"The plane was thoroughly checked," said Swope.
Swope said the plane reached nearly 1,700 feet in the air when he noticed the parade had still not started and his "plane started acting up."
"It was cutting out and losing power," Swope said. "The best thing I could do was head out of a heavily populated area."
Swope said he attempted to get to the Kentucky side of the river because there were more available landing locations. As he was headed west toward Cincinnati, the plane began to lose power and slowly descend, Swope said.
"The river was my only choice. I sat it down going about 20 miles per hour," Swope said, noting the ultralite's top speed is around 50 miles per hour. "Once the wheel hit the water, it nudged me over."
Swope said he was about two miles up river from Ripley when he turned around and came back and landed in the Ohio River. He hoped to land near a boat for help but there were no boats around when he put the plane down on the water.
"It only took about 5-10 minutes before a boat was over to me," he said. "Everybody was great to me. I was not looking to cause problems."
Swope said the breather which runs on his motor had vibrated and cracked, causing the mechanical problems.
"I'm a fair board member, by no means did I intend to put anyone in harms way," said Swope.
Swope said the boater who came to his aid put a rope around his small plane and took him and his disabled aircraft to shore.
"I got lucky," said Swope. "I really appreciate everyone's assistance in the matter."
Contact Barbara Goldman at barbara.goldman@lee.net or call 606-564-9091, ext. 274.
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