Pilot, Passenger, And Aircraft Fine After Forced Landing Following Engine Trouble On Approach To LEB

Travelers on New Hampshire’s Interstate 89 just outside Lebanon, NH Saturday passed an interesting stranded traveler of a completely different sort.

An orange and black 1940 Waco UPF-7 owned by Richard “Bud” Bushway of Stratford, VT sat in the breakdown lane between exits 19 and 20 Saturday morning after he and passenger Mary Dixon also of Stratford, lost engine power in the Waco on approach to Lebanon Regional Airport and safely landed on the highway.

The Boston Herald reported Bushway, 68, an experienced pilot, had flown earlier in the day to Rutland, VT, where he and Dixon, 67, attended a pancake breakfast hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association chapter there.
There was no sign of trouble with the aircraft until the approach to Lebanon.

"It just happened so fast. I just went on instinct," Bushway said. "I didn't see much of anything. I was trying to fly that airplane."

Finding a break in traffic and landing his plane safely on the highway, Bushway estimates that he was going about 65 miles per hour, the highway speed limit, when he touched down. He said he thought about trying to glide to a different runway at Lebanon, but judged it outside gliding range and decided to land on the highway.

Both Bushway and Dixon were unhurt in the forced landing and the antique aircraft also survived without damage.

Highway traffic was reduced to one lane and eventually was stopped so the plane could be towed back to the Lebanon airport.

"I'm thankful for Bud. If anybody could get it down, it was him," said Dixon.

"I trust him with my life. I'd fly again this afternoon if it would fly," she added.

FMI: www.faa.gov