Husband And Wife On Board The Airplane Walked Away Unharmed

The pilot of a Vodochody L-39C airplane landed safely on a levee in the Everglades in south Florida earlier this month. And both he and his wife, who was a passenger in the jet, walked away unharmed.

The pilot was Gary Solkovits, a flight instructor, who was preparing to land the L-39 at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport on March 16th. The Sun Sentinel newspaper reports that he said he heard an unusual sound, then silence, "and I became a glider."

Solkovits had flown gliders before, but never one as heavy and with as poor a glide ratio as the L-39.

He said he had "less than a minute" to pick his landing spot, line up, get the gear and flaps down, and touch down on the levee. He stopped the airplane within 100 feet of a telemetry tower.

Solkovits credited his safe landing to "divine intervention." His wife Lois said that her husband's skills as an aviator were also a big factor in the textbook off-airport landing.

Solkovits' company Jet Fighters International trains jet pilots and performs at air shows.

The plane sat on the levee in the Everglades for several days before being removed by a company that specializes in hauling heavy and unusual loads. They disassembled the L-39, loaded it on to a trailer, it was scheduled to be transported Friday to a facility in Lakeland, FL, for reassembly and assessment.

The removal reportedly cost Solkovits $10,000, and he does not know what a new engine for the L-39 will be. But he says he is just very grateful to be able to tell the story. "Everybody who came out, the FAA and everybody, said we were really quite fortunate," Solkovits said.

(Image from file. Not incident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov