Amazing Forced Landing In Alaska

It's a pilot's worst nightmare, the dilemma one hopes to never face. The pilot of a Spernak Airways Cessna 207 goes engine-out over water. The only place to land is an athletic field. There are children playing baseball on one part of the field, soccer on the other.

Time is critical.

Where does the pilot set down?

Who has to die?

No One Has To Die.

Seth Siver of Wasilla (AK) was one of four people onboard the 207 as it was crossing the Cook Inlet near Anchorage (AK) at 8:13 p.m. Thursday night. "We were coming across the Inlet and the engine died. He (the pilot) got it started and it died again," Siver said.

The pilot made for the Anchorage Football Stadium. There, kids were playing a baseball game on one part of the field and a coed soccer game on the other. The pilot decided to "thread the needle," setting down on a running track between the two games.

At the baseball diamond, the players and about 500 fans looked up to see the crippled Cessna flying low and getting lower. Witnesses say they shouted at one another to get out of the way. The 207 reportedly came in from the west, touching down on the running track and plowing through a fence. "The minute it hit the fence the engine came right off," said baseball fan Donald Raney, a veteran pilot, in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News. "Instead of crashing and killing, he hit the fence."

Siver said the aircraft flipped once, landing on its belly. The 207's empennage was crushed. The left wingtip and the wheels were sheared away in the landing.

How good was the unidentified pilot? Raney said he put the aircraft down 75 feet from a parking lot full of cars and 100 feet from the baseball park's left field bleachers. Now that's threading the needle.

The unidentified pilot and two passengers, reportedly brothers from Colorado, were slightly hurt in the forced landing. They were taken to an area hospital. Siver walked away without a scratch. No one on the ground was injured. The Spernak Airways flight was headed to Merrill Field in Anchorage. There was no indication of where the 45-minute flight had originated.

The FAA Preliminary Report

I DENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 29CF        Make/Model: C207      Description: 207 (Turbo)Skywagon 207, (Turb)
  Date: 08/01/2003     Time: 0414

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: ANCHORAGE   State: AK   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT INBOUND FROM WEST, CRASHED PRIOR TO REACHING MERRILL FIELD ARPT. ANCHORAGE, AK

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: PAMR METAR 010450Z 28008KT 10SM FEW060 18/06 A3003

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Landing      Operation: Air Taxi (On Demand)

  Departed: UNKN                        Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: MERRILL FIELD, AK        Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: OVER WEST HIGH SC
  Last Clearance: CLRD TO LND ANY RWY

  FAA FSDO: ANCHORAGE, AK  (AL03)                 Entry date: 08/01/2003

FMI: www.faa.gov