Gusty Winds Likely A Factor

One slightly bent Cessna... but no injuries reported among the three persons onboard, except for a bloodied nose. Those are the end results of a Thursday accident in Colorado, after a C-182 overshot the runway at Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport (GWS).

Pilot Terry Harland borrowed his friend's aircraft to take his daughter and her boyfriend for lunch in Gunnison, according to the Aspen Daily Times. Upon their return to GWS, they found the winds had picked up... causing strong gusts across the runway.

Those strong winds reportedly prevented Harland from setting the plane down on the runway, as he came in for landing at around 12:30 pm. The plane overshot the pavement, and came to rest at a street intersection.

"He just came in a little too far at one end of the runway and ended up going off the runway through the weeds and off the street through the subdivision," said Glenwood Police Lt. Bill Kimminau. "It's just one of those things that happens once in a while."

Experienced pilots told the Times landing can be tricky even in the best of conditions at GWS, whose 3,350-foot runway is hemmed in along both sides by mountains. The nearby Glenwood Park residential subdivision lies just beyond the departure end of Runway 32, as well.

The two passengers were not injured. Harland had a bloodied nose, but no lasting injuries, and no one on the ground was harmed.

His friend's aircraft wasn't quite as lucky, though. The Skylane (type shown above) suffered a bent propeller, and everything forward of the firewall was pretty well-crumpled.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 97996        Make/Model: C182      Description: 182, Skylane
  Date: 09/20/2007     Time: 1833

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: Minor     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
  City: GLENWOOD SPRINGS   State: CO   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT LANDED LONG ON RUNWAY 32 AT GLENWOOD SPRINGS MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
  (GWS) AND THE NOSE GEAR SEPARATED, GLENWOOD SPRINGS, CO

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

WEATHER: KEGE 201845Z 25018G22KT 10SM SCT150 23/03 A3012

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Landing      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: SALT LAKE CITY, UT  (NM07)            Entry date: 09/21/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov