Forced Landing on Street Damages Car; Nobody Hurt

Jean Grover was driving along Stinson Avenue, a residential street in Gig Harbor (WA), minding her own business, shortly after 8AM Tuesday, when her rear window was shattered by an airplane's prop.

"Oh, heck!" she must have muttered, as she pulled over to see just what else had happened.

Scott Bloom had flown his 172 from Hillsboro (OR) that morning, and refueled at Tacoma Narrows Airport, and took off again. That last leg had been about five minutes old when he encountered a distinct lack of power, and had to land.

If the street hadn't been a slow-limit, residential street, Bloom might not have caught up with the car at all; but, as luck would have it, Mrs. Grover, 53, was obeying the speed limit. The pair's luck held out, though: there was no fire; and Scott didn't land three feet farther down the road, which would have put Mrs. Grover in a very bad spot, indeed.

As it was, Mrs. Grover's husband was pretty surprised when she had an onlooker call him. According to one local report, after that good samaritan said his wife had been rear-ended, Mr. Grover wasn't sure he heard right, and asked, "...a car?" The local businessman, identified as John Spadoni, calmly replied, "No, it was an airplane."

[Bloom, we were told, was very nearly empty when he landed at Tacoma Narrows. We have also confirmed that the FAA has taken fuel samples from Tacoma Narrows. Also, according to one airport employee, he had heard of no complaints from other customers. As expected, there is no result yet, from the FAA or NTSB, regarding Tuesday's samples --ed.]

**   Report created 1/15/03   Record 3   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 1909V        Make/Model: C172      Description: 172, P172, R172, Skyhawk, Hawk
  Date: 01/14/2003     Time: 1550
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: GIG HARBOR   State: WA   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT AFTER DEPARTURE, EXPERIENCED ENGINE SPUTTERING, AND DECLARED AN EMERGENCY, ATTTEMPTED TO RETURN TO AIRPORT, CRASHED 3MILES NORTH, GIG HARBOR, WA
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: METAR KTIW 1553Z 29004KT 10SM BKN007 OVC012 07/06 A3031 RMK A02 CIG 004V009
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Climb      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: TACOMA NARROWS, WA          Dep Date: 01/14/2003   Dep. Time: 1541
  Destination: SEATTLE, WA              Flt Plan: IFR          Wx Briefing: Y
  Last Radio Cont: SEATTLE APPRCH/3 NORTH TACOMA NARROWS
  Last Clearance: MAINTAIN 1000 IF YOU CAN
  FAA FSDO: SEATTLE, WA  (NM01)                   Entry date: 01/15/2003