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A Maysville police officer and another driver were critically injured in an accident on Kentucky 9 late Friday, according to a witness.
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The accident took place at an intersection of Kentucky 9 and the Wal-Mart Plaza near Applebee's Restaurant shortly before 9 p.m.
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Local News

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:34 AM EDT Print this story | Email this story
HUNTINGTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The pilot of a small plane which crashed into the Ohio River between Dover and Ripley, Ohio, Friday evening said a river landing was his only choice when the plane began to "act up."

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.

Reader Comments

Comments are limited to 200 words or less.

MikeD wrote on Aug 26, 2008 11:17 PM:

" Where in the world was he planning to land downtown Ripley, when the parade was over? Not a whole lot of options down that way. "

always at risk wrote on Aug 26, 2008 10:25 PM:

" No matter what you do you're always at risk for something to happen to you. You could walk out your front door and fall down the steps and break your neck. If you are walking down the street on the sidewalk someone could lose control of their car and run you down. If the guy is being honest about what happened, then at least he had enough sense to get away from people and take it to the water. Why don't we just all live sheltered lives in our homes away from all the danger? Oh wait....something might catch fire....tornado might take u away. I would like to point at he did have a pilots license. Planes do crash.....even the bigger ones.....just watch the news lately. "

mel - ripley res wrote on Aug 26, 2008 4:35 PM:

" I don't think it is fair that you (the ledger) only load some peoples comments on here and not others.
This man put many peoples lives at risk and I am just voicing my opinion. Regardless if he meant to or not. It happened and he put many spectators lives at risk. "

Kat wrote on Aug 26, 2008 2:57 PM:

" Thank you for asking the person who was truly involved. He's a wonderful man and it's sad that people would try to make an accident look like something more just to get on the news. "

harold wrote on Aug 26, 2008 2:02 PM:

" I am glad he is a responsible fair board member. Good work and God Bless "


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