Stearman Lands on Car, on Main Drag

[OK -- before you get exorcised about my calling Hendersonville (NC) "Hooterville," please understand that I lived there, and that's what locals affectionately call it --ed.]

The weekend story is that a Stearman caused quite a stir Saturday afternoon, as it landed on Four Seasons Boulevard, a mile or so from the airport. The airplane threaded its way through some of the traffic, some of which parted. A Lumina and a pickup got into the tangle, though. The Stearman kept going east on Four Seasons until the starboard wing fetched up against the traffic light at Harris Street.

Hendersonville is in the heart of North Carolina's apple country. The area is mountainous and scenic -- that is to say, there aren't very many places to land. So, when Dennis Dunlap, 46, had to put his Stearman down, he didn't have many choices. "There wasn't any place to land it," he told Leigh Kelley of the Hendersonville Times-News. "The only place nearby was Four Seasons because that's the only place without power lines. It's just been one of them days."

Indeed. He had just released a glider at an indicated 5200 feet (H'ville's airport, 0A7, has a field elevation of 2084) when the engine stopped.

Dunlap is one of the founders of the Western North Carolina Air Museum, and is as active a pilot as is to be found in the area. He knows that every flat spot in Henderson County has a shopping mall on it, or an apple orchard -- or it's a lake. Oh -- or, it's the nearly-straight Four Seasons Boulevard, a 6-lane stretch of which was truly his only choice, when the Stearman stuttered.

The street is busy, especially so with Saturday shoppers, many of whom were directly involved. One Corvette driver told the paper she saw the red and white bipe and thought, "God, that thing is awfully low." She escaped; several others didn't. One told the paper, "At first I thought it was going to land, but the traffic wasn't blocked off, then he turned and started coming my way and I just drove into the ditch."

ANN News-Spy Janet Kern, caught in the ensuing traffic jam, witnessed the aftermath, and told ANN, "It just squished that Lumina." Fortunately, the Lumina's four passengers escaped serious injuries. Only two were treated at the hospital. A Dodge pickup with five aboard was also involved; the five were all treated for minor scrapes at the scene.

Dunlap and his passenger, Edward G. Grille, 17, of Asheville (NC), were also airlifted to Pardee Hospital, where they were later released. (Dunlap gives a lot of kids a lot of rides, and is often seen giving tourists and other interested parties tours of the scenic area.)

The Stearman still looks gorgeous -- but only from the port side.

In a twist of irony, the Times-News noted that it was 36 years earlier, to the day, that, "a Piedmont Boeing 727 and Cessna 310 collided in midair over Hendersonville, killing all 82 people aboard. Nobody on the ground was injured."

**   Report created 7/21/2003   Record 14  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 411BT        Make/Model: PT17      Description: 1947 BOEING STEARMAN PT-17
  Date: 07/19/2003     Time: 0805
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: HENDERSONVILLE   State: NC   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT CRASHED AT INTERSECTION OF FOUR SEASONS BLVD AND HARRIS STREET AND INVOLVED TWO MOTOR VEHICHES,  2 PERSONS ON ACFT, SIX PERSONS ON GROUND, EIGHT PERSONS WITH UNKNOWN INJURIES. ACFT WAS TOWING GLIDER AT THE TIME BUT GLIDER DISENGAGED AND LANDED SAFETLY,
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   0
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   6     Unk:   Y
WEATHER: KAVL ASOS 191805Z 31007KTS 7SM FEW036 26/19 A3008
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Unknown      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: HENDERSONVILLE, NC          Dep Date: 07/19/2003   Dep. Time: 1800
  Destination: HENDERSONVILLE, NC       Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: ATC NOT IN COMM WITH ACFT
  Last Clearance: NONE
  FAA FSDO: CHARLOTTE, NC  (SO33)                 Entry date: 07/21/2003