Bails Out Of Plane After Emergency Landing
The pilot of a vintage Grumman
TBM-3E Avenger torpedo bomber managed to escape the aircraft after
it caught fire on takeoff at a New Jersey airport Saturday
afternoon.
The Press of Atlantic City reports Terry Rush, 63, had just
taken off from Millville Municipal Airport (MIV) in the WWII-era
warbird when the left wing caught fire for as-yet undetermined
reasons. Rush was able to execute an emergency landing back on the
runway, and narrowly escaped the cockpit by running across the
right wing as the plane was still rolling, before flames consumed
the airframe.
Tom Duffy, who owned the Avenger as well as several other
warbirds, was the first person to reach Rush after he bailed out.
The paper reports 27 firefighters responded to the emergency call
at around 4:40 pm EST Saturday, and extinguished the fire within 10
minutes... though little of the Avenger remained afterward.
Rush was transported to an Upland, PA burn center, where he
remained in critical but stable condition Sunday evening. He
reportedly suffered second and third-degree burns to his left side
and both hands, and is heavily sedated.
Lisa Jester, executive director of the Millville Army Air Field
Museum, said Rush is the only other person besides Duffy to work on
and fly the latter's airplanes. He was among four pilots who flew
Duffy's P-47 Thunderbolts in last year's Millville air show.
"From what Tom told me, they're really anal about keeping up
with the aircraft and doing whatever needs to be done," Jester
said. "Tom is a safety nut. He has no clue how this could have
happened... Terry is an expert. He was able to land it on the
runway and avoid crashing into anything else. It could have been a
lot worse than it was."
Rush was alert and talking after the accident.
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#:
188TD Make/Model:
TBM Description: TBF AVENGER
(G-40)
Date: 03/07/2009 Time: 2145
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
None Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: MILLVILLE State: NJ Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT FORCE LANDED ON THE RUNWAY, CAUGHT FIRE AND
BURNED, MILLVILLE, NJ
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk: 1
# Pass: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: VFR
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase:
Landing Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: TETERBORO, NJ
(EA25)
Entry date: 03/09/2009