Says Engine On The 1946 Airplane Failed During Flight

The pilot of a 1946 North American Navion was faced with few choices on Friday when the engine on his classic airplane, in his words, began misfiring and sputtering and then completely failed.

The pilot, Eric McCoy, had departed from Gilbert Airport (KGIF) in Winter Haven  in central Florida and was reportedly heading north when the engine began to give him problems. Polk County Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Wilder said that McCoy determined the best place for him to put the airplane back on the ground was actually in the water at Lake Hancock. McCoy said that the water was a safer bet because of the airplane's retractable landing gear. He put the plane down in about four feet of water, which made it easy for him to get out of the Navion after it came to a stop.

The local newspaper The Ledger reports that Harry Shannon, owner of Amphibians Plus at Bartow Municipal Airport in Florida, heard McCoy declare an emergency and took off from Bartow Municipal to see if he could be of assistance. He landed on the lake, taxied to where the Navion was resting in the water, and transferred McCoy from the sunken airplane to the flyable one.

McCoy, the only person on board the Navion when it went down, was not injured in the accident.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov