Both She And Her Instructor Sustain Only Minor Injuries

A television meteorologist taking a flying lesson Wednesday morning got some first-hand training in emergency landings, but fortunately both she and her instructor walked away.

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Christy Henderson, Chief Meteorologist for News Channel 7 in Spartansburg, SC, was flying with her instructor in a Cessna 150 on a routine training flight Wednesday morning when the airplane developed engine problems. According to Henderson's blog, her instructor took the controls, contacted the airport, and set up for an emergency landing in a plowed field a few miles from the airport.

Henderson writes that the landing was fine until the nose gear of the plane dug into the dirt, which caused the plane to flip over onto its back. Both she and the flight instructor suffered minor bumps and bruises, but were able to extricate themselves from the upside-down airplane and wait for help to arrive.

Henderson wrote that her biggest concern after the accident was whether to wear sunglasses or a pirate eye patch to hide her black eye while doing the weather. She praised her instructor, whom she identified only as "Mrs. Orr," for her quick thinking and cool head during the emergency.

ANN wholeheartedly agrees on that account.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov