Nov 1, 2007
Redding
Local pilot survives emergency landing
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by MAGGIE CALDWELL
mcaldwell@thereddingpilot.com
A Redding pilot walked away unhurt — and seemingly unfazed — after an emergency landing on the choppy waters of Seneca Lake in upstate New York on Sunday afternoon.
Alexander Gray of Limekiln Road was flying his Piper Aerostar home alone from a business trip in Toronto when he started having engine troubles over the Finger Lakes region. He had refueled that morning in Rochester, and soon after taking off began noticing problems.
“I was flying under instrument meteorological conditions, following radar in heavy rain and low clouds,” he said. “When I was over Cayuga Lake, both engines started surging.”
Thinking he had a fuel contamination, Mr. Gray turned his plane 90 degrees toward Elmira/Corning Regional Airport, which received his “mayday” call around 1:30. He soon realized, however, he wasn’t going to make it to the airport.
“I was losing altitude quite quickly and had to make a decision whether to put it down on land or on water,” he said. “I did not think it was a good idea to land on land because there probably would have been a fire. But, I thought, I do know how to swim.”
Following his flight training, Mr. Gray lowered the plane over Seneca Lake near Lodi Point and managed a soft landing with the landing gear up. He then put on a life jacket, inflated a raft he had recently rented, grabbed a backpack and jumped into the water all before the plane sank to the bottom of the deepest of the Finger Lakes.
Mr. Gray’s distress call had been directed to several area agencies, including the Lodi and Ovid fire departments and the Yates County Sheriff’s Department, a bit south of Lodi Point on the western shore of Seneca Lake, according to the local newspaper, the Finger Lakes Times.
Chief Jared Webster was helping Firefighter Roger McKamey pull his pontoon boat from the lake for winter storage. When Chief Webster picked up the call for aid near Lodi Point, he, Mr. McKamey and Himrod Deputy Fire Chief James Kellogg took Mr. McKamey’s boat — designed for cruising on calm water — from a trailer and launched it onto the lake, according to the Times.
“The lake’s not too wide, but he was at least half a mile out,” said Investigator Kristin Fleming who headed the New York State Police side of the investigation. “It was very choppy with snowcaps where waves were breaking. It was really rough and extremely windy and cold that day. Not a good day to be out on the water.”
Mr. Gray was only stuck on his raft for about 20 minutes, before being rescued by the three Himrod volunteers.
“The water was very warm,” he said. “The temperature was the only thing that concerned me, but the water was well above 60 degrees.”
When asked about the experience, Mr. Gray played down the whole incident.
“It was no big deal,” he said while back home in Redding on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the emergency landing. “I’ve been flying for 20 years. This isn’t a big story.”
He said air traffic controllers talked to him most of the way down, though he lost communication at about 1,500 feet.
“They knew exactly where I was down. The only question they had was whether I was injured. Water landings are not that soft, but it was not that bad, and I was not hurt at all,” he said.
His plane is still at the bottom of the lake.
“The plane is in 600 feet of water,” he said. “I learned from the locals that it is the second deepest lake in the United States.”
The FAA is investigating the incident, he added.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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