A Ride To Remember

Remember your first cross-country solo? Were you sweaty-palmed and tense? Did you have that out-on-a-limb feeling? Well, if 17-year old Bridgett Green experienced any of that, she didn't show it.

Bridgett was flying her Cessna 152 (file image of type, above) from Clark County Airport (IN) to Huntingburg (IN) and back Wednesday when she says she "ran into a tailwind that knocked her off-course."

"I was going back and hit a tail wind. I overcorrected ... and it sent me farther out," she said. "I tried to radio for help and it just happened a man named Ron from our airport in Indianapolis heard me and he tried to help."

But time wasn't on Bridgett's side. Dangerously low on fuel, she consulted with "Ron" and picked out a field about 25 miles north of Cincinnati (OH). For the most part, it was a pretty good landing.

That is, until her landing gear snagged a mound of dirt in the field and flipped over. Still, Bridgett was relatively unhurt, suffering just a scrape on her leg and a bump on the head when she released her seat belt and fell onto the inverted cabin's ceiling.

Bridgett first tried calling for help, grabbing up her headset and trying to transmit. "But it didn't work," she said, "so I grabbed my stuff, took the key out and started walking." (Remember the definition of a good landing?)

"She did a really good job. Instead of letting panic set in, she actually landed the plane," said Ohio State Trooper Stanley Oligee, who investigated the incident. "It was more of a landing than a crash. Honestly, the only reason it turned into a crash was because she hit the mound of dirt and flipped the plane."

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 4713B    Make/Model: C152    Description: 152, A152, Aerobat
  Date: 04/07/2004     Time: 2240
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: HAMILTON                    State: OH   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
STUDENT PILOT ON SOLO CROSS COUNTRY GOT LOST AND RAN OUT OF FUEL. PILOT LANDED ACFT IN A FIELD. SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE AND MINOR INJURIES REPORTED. HAMILTON, OH

INJURY DATA    Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   1     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   1     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:           Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: KHAO METAR 072253Z 00000KT 10SM FEW085 22/05 A2973                         
OTHER DATA
 Activity: Other      Phase: Cruise      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: HUNTINGBURG, IN HNB         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination: JEFFERSONVILLE, IN J     Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNKN    Last Clearance: UNKN
  FAA FSDO: CINCINNATI, OH  (GL05)                Entry date: 04/08/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov