Dead Stick Landing
by Joe Stout
Not too long after my solo flight my buddy Bobby Mitchell and I bought a 1946 Aeronca Champion. This was similar to the Piper Cub but a little more powerful. We paid $500.00 for it but that was quite a bit in the 1950’s. When Bobby went away to school I bought his half interest.
For a few years it was common for me to give acquaintances their first ride in an airplane. One day Bobby Yeargin came by and wanted to go up. We took off and I decided to circle Union City to show him what it was like. We were at about 1500 ft. when the engine begin to sputter and lose power finally going completely dead. Once again I was faced with a “Dead Stick Landing.” This time without the benefit of the airport.
I began to look for a place to set down and spotted a cow pasture at the northeast part of Union City. This cow pasture is where the E. W. James Supermarket is now located.
The wind was out of the north so it’s always best to land heading into the wind. The only problem was the highway with power lines and houses were located at the south end of this cow pasture. I decided to be sure and approach high enough to be sure I could clear these power lines. Those planes of that day did not have any flaps that could slow you down and allow you to lose altitude without picking up too much speed.
After being sure I had cleared the power lines there is a procedure that I had to use called slipping. This procedure calls for putting the aircraft in a sideways attitude with the wing tilted down using the fuselage as a brake to slow down and lose altitude fast without gaining too much airspeed for landing. At about 10 ft. off the ground I then straightened up pulling back for a landing stopping about 15 ft. from the fence at the north end of the cow pasture. After getting out I looked in the back seat I saw that my friend Bobby was still sitting there holding the bracing along the side windows with his eyes still closed.
Now I had another problem. Cows have been known to eat the fabric on those type of planes. I called the airport and Chester Reid and a few more came out. Chester decided to see if it would crank and it did. He then asked if I wanted him to fly it out. I agreed and he took off getting about 10 ft. off the ground and it conked out on him and he had to set back down.
This was a Sunday and I had to leave it there and the next day had Del the mechanic check it out. It turned out a spark plug had completely come out causing the loss of power and compression. Chester did fly it out for me.
I try to avoid shopping for groceries at the Union City E. W. James Supermarket.
For a few years it was common for me to give acquaintances their first ride in an airplane. One day Bobby Yeargin came by and wanted to go up. We took off and I decided to circle Union City to show him what it was like. We were at about 1500 ft. when the engine begin to sputter and lose power finally going completely dead. Once again I was faced with a “Dead Stick Landing.” This time without the benefit of the airport.
I began to look for a place to set down and spotted a cow pasture at the northeast part of Union City. This cow pasture is where the E. W. James Supermarket is now located.
The wind was out of the north so it’s always best to land heading into the wind. The only problem was the highway with power lines and houses were located at the south end of this cow pasture. I decided to be sure and approach high enough to be sure I could clear these power lines. Those planes of that day did not have any flaps that could slow you down and allow you to lose altitude without picking up too much speed.
After being sure I had cleared the power lines there is a procedure that I had to use called slipping. This procedure calls for putting the aircraft in a sideways attitude with the wing tilted down using the fuselage as a brake to slow down and lose altitude fast without gaining too much airspeed for landing. At about 10 ft. off the ground I then straightened up pulling back for a landing stopping about 15 ft. from the fence at the north end of the cow pasture. After getting out I looked in the back seat I saw that my friend Bobby was still sitting there holding the bracing along the side windows with his eyes still closed.
Now I had another problem. Cows have been known to eat the fabric on those type of planes. I called the airport and Chester Reid and a few more came out. Chester decided to see if it would crank and it did. He then asked if I wanted him to fly it out. I agreed and he took off getting about 10 ft. off the ground and it conked out on him and he had to set back down.
This was a Sunday and I had to leave it there and the next day had Del the mechanic check it out. It turned out a spark plug had completely come out causing the loss of power and compression. Chester did fly it out for me.
I try to avoid shopping for groceries at the Union City E. W. James Supermarket.