WIX Archives
>>Text<<
Posted by Rob Mears on Thu Sep 06, 2001 08:11:06 PM
In reply top P-51D "Obsession" Destroyed posted by Tim Savage on Thu Sep 06, 2001 07:29:24 PM
Denver, N.C. -- A World War II fighter plane crashed Thursday morning in Denver, but the two passengers on board were able to escape by parachute.
Jeff Michael, who is a retired US Airways pilot from Salisbury, was flying the P-51 Mustang plane to Springfield, Ohio for a Chuck Yager reunion. After jumping from the plane, Michael landed in the woods and was stuck in a tree for more than an hour.
Crews rescued Michale and he walked out of the woods with hardly a scratch around 12:45 p.m.
"I?m the luckiest man alive right now," Michale said, "and so is my buddy Butch Cauble who was in the back seat. We only fell about 100 feet before we hit the ground, so the parachute opened almost on top of the trees."
Cauble, who is also from Salisbury, was transported to Lake Norman Regional Medical Center.
"While I was stuck in the tree, I saw [Cauble] walking around down below the tree all bloody, but I think he only has minor injuries. I was really happy to see him still alive."
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department says the plane crashed around 11:20 a.m. near the intersection of Birchwood Lane and Forney Hill Road in Denver.
Michale said that the plane's engine overheated.
?We had a cooling problem and the engine seized up, and we were on top of overcast at about 8,000 feet," he said. "We asked the [Charlotte-Douglas Airport] Center to give us vector to the closest airport, so he turned us toward Lincolnton. Then the engine completely quit and we went down through the overcast and broke out about 1,500 feet. We looked around to make sure that we weren?t over a crowded area and then jumped.?
The plane crashed in a wooded area into a ball of flames.
There have been three plane accidents within the last two months.
On August 18 a plane went down in a wooded area off Albemarle Road in Mint Hill. The pilot, who was not hurt, was making a second attempt to land at a nearby airport when he crashed.
Also last month, pilot Michael Melvin made an emergency landing at the Rowan County airport in Salisbury. He also survived with minor injuries.
There was another plane crash just yards away from Lake Norman?s airport in July. A small Cessna 175 crash into a tree, but the pilot, Doodle Brown, and co-pilot, Randy Graham were not injured.